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A   SHORT    HISTORY   OF   ITALY 


A    SHORT 

HISTOKY  OF  ITALY 

(476-1900) 


BY 


HENRY   DWIGHT   SEDGWICK 


BOSTON     \M>    NKW   YORK 

HOUGHTON,    MIFFLIN  AND   COMPANY 

Cbc  OitorrfliDr  prrsa,  CnmbriDoe 

L906 


COPVRIOH1    n/>5    H\    RENR1     DWIOH1    BBDOWICK 
All.    RIORTfl    UMRVBD 

Publisktd  Novtmbtr  jqos 


TO 

H.  D.  S.,  C.  D.  S.,   R.  M.  S.,  W.  E.  S., 
A.  C.  S.,   F.  M.  S.,  and  T.  S. 

0  passi  graviova  .  .  . 

.  .  .  forsan  et  ha>c  olim  meminisse  juvabit. 


PREFACE 

This  volume  is  a  mere  sketch  in  outline;  it  makes 
no  pretence  to  original  investigation,  or  even  to  an 
extended  examination  of  the  voluminous  literature 
which  deals  with  every  part  of  its  subject.  It  is 
an  attempt  to  give  a  correct  impression  of  Italian 
history  as  a  whole,  and  employs  details  only  here 
and  there,  and  then  merely  for  the  sake  of  giving 
greater  clearness  to  the  general  outline.  So  hrief  a 
narrative  is  mainly  a  work  of  selection  ;  and  perhaps 
no  two  persons  would  agree  upon  what  to  put  in  and 
what  to  leave  out.  I  have  laid  emphasis  upon  the 
matters  of  greatest  general  interest,  the  Papacy,  the 
Renaissance,  and  the  Risorgimento  ;  and  my  special 
ohject  has  been  to  put  in  high  relief  those  achieve- 
ments which  make  Italy  so  charming  and  so  interest- 
ing to  the  world,  and  to  give  what  space  was  possible 
to  the  great  men  to  whom  these  achievements  are  due. 

II.  D.  S. 

Nkw  York,  October  1,  1905. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTEB  FAOB 

I.  The    Fall    of    the    Empire    in    the    West 

(476  a.  d.) 1 

II.  The  Ostrogoths  (489-553) 12 

III.  The  Lombard  Invasion  (568)         ...  23 

IV.  The  Church  (568-700) 31 

V.  The  Coming  of  the  Franks  (726-768)  .        .  40 

VI.  Charlemagne  (768-814) 49 

VII.  From  Charlemagne  to  Nicholas  I  (814-867)  57 

VIII.  The  Degradation  of  Italy  (867-962)       .        .  67 

IX.  The  Revival  of  the  Papacy  (962-1056)       .  79 

X.  The  Struggle  over  Investitures  (1059-1123)  89 

XI.  Trade  against  Feudalism  (1152-1190)  .        .  102 

XII.  Triumph  of  the  Papacy  (1198-1216)        .        .  114 

XIII.  St.  Francis  (1182-1226) 125 

XIV.  The  Fall  of  the  Empire  (1216-1250)       .        .  133 
XV.  The  Fall  of  the  Medieval  Papacy  (1303)  145 

XVI.  Last  Flicker  of  the  Empire  (1309-1313)        .  152 

XVII.  A  Review  of  the  States  of  Italy  (about  1300)  161 
XVIII.  The  Transition  from  the  Middle  Ages  to  the 

Renaissance 175 

XIX.  The   Intellectual  Dawn  after  the   Middle 

Ages  (1260-1336) 182 

XX.  The  Despotisms  (1250-1350)        .        .        .        .192 

XXI.  The  Classical  Revival  (1350)       ...  201 

XXII.  Tiik  Ills  of  the  Fourteenth  Century    .        .  209 

XXIII.  A  Kikd's-Kye  View  (1350-1450)       ...  218 

XXIV.  The  Early  Renaissance  (1400-1450)         .        .  231 
XXV.  Tim.  Kin\I"an<i    (1460  L492)         ...  242 

XXVI.  Tin    I'.akhakian    Invasions  (1494-1537)      .         .  253 

XXVII.   Tin    1'ai-al  Monaim  iiy  (1471-1627)         .        .  267 

XXVIII.  Tm    iln.ii  Kinai-an.  i    (1489-1621)  ...  281 


x  CONTENTS 

XXIX.  Itmyanp  rm  Catholic  Revival  (1627  1563)  293 

XXX  To  CnrojUBCKHTO  (16th Century)  .        .        .  304 

XXXI.   A  BUBVXT  of  Italy  (1580-1581)       .         .        .  319 

XXXII     Tin   A ai  ok  Stagnation,  Politics  (1580-1 789)  336 

XXXIII.  Tiik    Ai;k   <>y    Stagnation,   tiik    Arts    (1580- 

1789) 348 

XXXIV.  Tiik  Napoleonic  Era  (1789-1820)    .         .         .  361 
XXXV.   rm   Ki  awakening  (1820-1821)    .        .       .  3<;<> 

XXXVI   PXBTDBBBO  Inactivity  (1821    1847)          .         .  377 

XXXVII.  Tumultuous  Years  (1848-1849)    ...  386 

XXXVIII.  Tiik   Unity  OF   Italy   (1849-1871)     .         .         .  395 

XXXIX    COHOXUMOM   (1872-1900)          ....  109 

APPENDIX 

I.  Chronological  Table  of  Popes  and  Emperors    .  421 

II.    GENEALOGY    OF    THE    MKOICI 428 

III.  Skeleton  Table  of  the  Kings  of  tiik.  Two  Sicilies  429 

IV.  I.im  ok  Books  for  General  Reading     .        .        .  430 

QTDEX 433 


A   SHORT    HISTORY   OF   ITALY 


A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  ITALY 

CHAPTER  I 

THE  FALL   OF  THE  EMPIRE  IN   THE  WEST   (476  A.  D.) 

In  the  year  476  an  unfortunate  young  man,  mocked 
with  the  great  names  of  the  founders  of  the  City 
and  of  the  Empire,  Romulus  Augustus,  nicknamed 
Augustulus,  was  deposed  from  the  throne  of  the 
Caesars  by  a  Barbarian  general  in  the  Imperial  ser- 
vice, and  the  Roman  Empire  in  Italy  came  to  its 
end.  This  act  was  but  the  outward  sign  that  the 
power  of  Italy  was  utterly  gone,  and  that  in  the 
West  at  least  the  Barbarians  were  indisputably  con- 
querors in  the  long  struggle  which  they  had  carried 
on  for  centuries  with  the  Roman  Empire. 

That  Empire,  at  the  period  of  its  greatness,  em- 
braced all  the  countries  around  the  Mediterranean 
Sea ;  it  was  the  political  embodiment  of  the  Medi- 
terranean civilization.  In  Europe,  to  the  northeast, 
it  reached  as  far  as  the  Rhine  and  the  Danube ;  it 
included  England.  Beyond  the  Rhine  and  the  Dan- 
ube dwelt  the  Barbarians.  Europe  was  thus  divided 
into  two  parts,  the  civilized  and  the  Barbarian  : 
one,  a  great  Latin  empire  which  rested  upon  slavery, 
and  was  governed  by  a  highly  centralized  bureau- 
cracy ;  the  other,  a  collection  of  tribes  of  Teutonic 
blood,  bound  together  in  a  very  simple  form  of  soci- 
ety, and  essentially  democratic  in  character. 


8  \    SHORT    HISTOBY   OF   ITALY 

T|1(.  Empire,  composed  o£  many  races,  Etruscan, 
Ligurian,  Iberian,  Celtic  Basque,  Greek,  Egyptian, 
and  divers  others,  bad  been  created  and  maintained 
U  the  military  and  administrative  genius  of  Rome. 
Over  all  these  people  Roman  law  and  Roman  or- 
der  prevailed.  All  enjoyed  the  Pax Romana.  From 
Cadiz  to  Milan,  from  Milan  to  Byzantium,  from 
Byzantium  to  Palmyra,  stretched  the  great  Roman 
roads.  Coins,  weights,  and  measures  were  every- 
where the  same.  The  inhabitants  of  Africa,  Asia, 
and  Europe,  enfranchised  by  an  Imperial  edict,  were 
thankful  to  be  Roman  citizens.  To  this  day  Roman 
law,  the  Romance  languages,  and  the  Roman  Catb- 
olic  Church  testify  to  the  vigour  and  solidity  of 
Roman  dominion.  The  city  of  Rome  was,  and  had 
been  for  centuries,  the  head  of  the  world.  From 
east  and  west,  from  north  and  south,  booty,  spoils, 
i,  tribute  had  Ho  wed  into  Rome.  Even  after 
the  seal  of  government  had  been  removed  to  Con- 
stantinople  (a.  u.  330),  visitors  from  the  new  capi- 
t  il  were  astounded  to  behold  the  Roman  temples, 
baths,  amphitheatres,  forums,  circuses,  and  palaces, 
all  glittering  with  marble  and  bronze.  But  the 
riches  acquired  by  conquest  and  tribute  had  brought 
seeds  of  evil  with  them.  Society  was  divided  into 
the  very  rich  and  the  very  poor;  the  simple  labo- 
rious  life  of  the  freemen  of  ancient  Rome  was  gone; 
the  regular  occupations  of  production  had  been  aban- 
doned  to  serf's  and  slaves;  moderate  incomes  and 
plaio  living  had  disappeared.  The  middle  class  had 
been  thrust  down  to  the  level  of  the  plebs.  In  the 
country  the  small  proprietors  had  been  reduced  to 


FALL   OF   THE   WESTERN   EMPIRE         3 

a  position  little  better  than  that  of  the  serfs,  while 
the  great  landlords  had  got  vast  tracts  of  land  into 
their  hands.  Nearly  half  the  population  were  slaves. 
Taxes  had  become  heavier  and  heavier  as  the  exi- 
gencies of  the  Empire  grew ;  great  numbers  of  offi- 
cials were  maintained,  and  great  mercenary  armies. 
The  rich  controlled  the  government,  and  shifted 
almost  the  whole  burden  of  taxation  from  their  own 
shoulders  to  those  of  the  poor.  In  the  cities,  each 
imitating  Rome  so  far  as  it  could,  had  grown  up  a 
vicious  unemployed  class,  living  on  the  distribution 
of  bread  which  was  paid  for  out  of  the  public  revenues. 
On  the  farther  side  of  the  Rhine  and  the  Danube, 
in  marked  contrast  with  this  society,  the  Teutonic 
Barbarians  tilled  their  lands  and  herded  their  flocks. 
They  dwelt  in  little  communities  which  were  banded 
together  into  tribes ;  and  these  in  turn  were  united 
in  a  sort  of  loose  confederation,  which  assumed  the 
semblance  of  a  nation  only  when  under  the  neces- 
sity of  military  action,  and  then  the  adult  male 
population  constituted  the  army.  Their  buildings 
were  of  the  humblest  character,  their  clothes  rude, 
tlitir  arts  primitive ;  they  could  neither  read  nor 
write,  and  their  men  cared  for  little  besides  hunt- 
ing and  lighting.  They  were,  however,  a  free,  self- 
rosp feting,  self-governing  people,  electing  their  king, 
and  meeting  in  one  great  assembly  to  enact  their 
laws.  Oil  tin-  Roman  borders  the  Barbarians  had 
become  Christians,  unfortunately  not  Trinitarians, 
but  mere  Axians,  heretics  in  the  eyes  of  the  ortho- 
dox Catholics;  bo  their  Christianity  hardly  served 
to  smooth  their  relations  with  the  Romans. 


4  A   SHORT    HISTORY   OF    ITALY 

The  differences  between  these  two  divisions  of 
Europe  were  about  as  great  as  between  ourselves  and 
the  I  > < > 1 1  Cossacks.  A  Roman  gentleman  living  in 
Gaul,  for  example,  would  have  a  villa  in  Auvergne, 

built  high  upou  the  hills  in  order  to  get  the  breezes 
and  the  view.  Here  was  a  bath-house,  a  fish-pond, 
separate  apartments  for  the  women,  a  pillared  por- 
tico that  overlooked  a  lake,  a  winter  drawing-room, 
a  Bummei  parlour,  etc.  In  this  agreeable  place,  in 
his  times  of  leisure,  the  owTner  would  stroll  about 
his  grounds,  play  tennis,  cultivate  his  garden,  read 
Virgil  and  Claudian,  compose  epigrams,  write  letters 
to  his  Friends  in  the  vein  of  Horace's  Satires,  gossip 
about  the  doings  at  the  Imperial  court  or  talk  phi- 
losophy. The  pleasant,  luxurious  life  of  Roman  gen- 
tlemen was  not  very  different  from  luxurious  life  in 
America  to-day. 

The  Barbarians  in  their  native  forests  were  hardly 
aware  of  Roman  civilization  ;  and  those  on  the  border 
made  a  marked  contrast  with  the  Romans.  The  young 
kin^s  were  superb  athletes,  sparing  at  table,  and  at- 
tentive to  their  kingly  duties.  The  Barbarian  eld- 
ers admired  Roman  civilization,  but  wrere  "  stiff  and 
lumpish  in  body  and  mind."  The  young  men,  six 
Peel  or  more  in  height,  with  long,  yellow  hair,  were 
great  eaters  of  garlic  and  indelicate  viands;  they 
went  alio ut  bare-legged, booted  with  rough  ox-leather, 
and  wore  short-sleeved  garments  of  divers  colours, 
belted  tight,  with  swords  dangling  at  their  backs, 
shields  at  side,  and  battle-axes  in  their  hands. 

Tt  would  be  a  mistake,  however,  to  draw  a  very 
sharp  line  between  these  two  opposing  divisions  of 


FALL  OF  THE   WESTERN   EMPIRE        5 

Europe.  The  Teutons  were  called  Barbarians  because 
they  were  not  Romans,  but  many  of  them  had  been 
trained  in  the  Roman  armies  and  had  lived  in  Con- 
stantinople, Trier,  or  Milan,  and  were  well  accus- 
tomed to  Roman  military  arts  and  discipline  ;  in  fact, 
the  Roman  army  was  recruited  mainly  from  among 
the  Barbarians.  Roman  traders  dealt  with  them 
regularly.  In  one  way  and  another  the  Barbarians, 
especially  their  leaders,  had  come  under  the  educating 
influence  of  Roman  civilization,  and  they  regarded 
that  civilization  with  an  amazement  and  a  respect  that 
at  times  deepened  into  awe. 

But  though  a  sharp  line  cannot  be  drawn,  yet  at 
bottom  Romans  and  Barbarians  were  far  apart.  It 
was  impossible  that  two  societies  of  such  divergent 
civilization  should  exist  side  by  side  in  peace ;  one 
must  conquer  the  other.  The  struggle  between  the 
Empire  and  its  enemies  had  been  almost  continuous 
since  the  days  of  Julius  Caesar,  and  for  several  cen- 
turies the  Empire  had  prevailed ;  but  social  disin- 
tegration within  had  proceeded  rapidly,  and  by  the 
beginning  of  the  fifth  century  the  Empire's  doom 
had  come.  Rome  herself,  the  original  home  of  empire, 
It  v  u  nerveless,  dead,  unsceptred,"  open  to  any  takers ; 
and  takers  came.  The  Visigoths,  under  Alaric,  cap- 
tured the  city  in  -110  and  were  merciful  ;  the  Vandals. 
nndei  Genseric,  captured  it  in  455  and  were  cruel. 

The  fall  of  Rome,  which  we  now  see  to  have  been 
inevitable,  came,  however,  with  a  terrible  shock  to 
tin-  civilized  world.  St.  Jerome,  who  had  gone  to  the 
irilderneas  Dear  Bethlehem  in  order  to  meditate  upon 
the  prophets,  wrote:  "My  voice  is  choked  and  my 


A    SHORT    HISTORY   OF  ITALY 

sobfl  interrupt  the  words  which  I  write;  the  city  is 
subdued  which  subdued  the  world.  .  .  .  Who  could 

believe  that  Rome,  which  was  built  of  the  spoils  of 
the  whole  earth,  would  fall,  that  the  city  could,  at 
the  -aim-  time,  be  the  cradle  and  grave  of  her  people; 
i  hat  all  the  coasts  of  Asia,  Egypt,  and  Africa  should 
In-  tilled  with  the  slaves  and  maidens  of  Rome?  That 
holy  Bethlehem  should  daily  receive,  as  beggars,  men 
and  women  who  formerly  were  conspicuous  for  their 
wealth  and  luxury?  "  1 

The  <  itv  of  Rome  had  been  deemed  immortal;  it 
had  become  almost  sacred  from  long  veneration  ;  and 
when  Rome  fell,  the  Empire  in  the  West  had  not  a 
prop  to  rest  upon.  Spain  was  taken  by  the  Suevi  and 
the  Visigoths,  Gaul  by  the  Franks,  Burgundians,  and 
Alenianni,  England  by  Angles  and  Saxons,  Africa 
1))'  the  Vandals  ;  and,  with  the  deposition  of  Romulus 
Augustulus,  Italy,  too,  became  the  prize  of  a  Bar- 
barian general. 

The  succeeding  period  of  European  history,  in 
Gaul,  Spain,  Africa,  and  Italy,  is  the  mingling  or 
attempted  mingling  of  the  old  populations  of  the 
Empire  with  the  Barbarian  conquerors.  The  pro- 
cess had,  indeed,  as  I  have  intimated,  begun  before 
the  fall  of  the  Empire.  For  several  generations  Bar- 
barians had  not  only  been  received  as  colonists  and 
taken  as  soldiers,  but  even  whole  tribes  had  been 
admitted  within  the  Roman  boundaries.  Imperial 
Btatesmeu  had  realized  that  the  Empire  could  only 
be  upheld  by  an  infusion  of  Barbarian  virility,  and 
they    had    favoured  the  process.     But  assimilation 

1  Rome  in  the  Middle  Ages,  Gregorovius,  vol.  i,  pp.  1(37,  1G8. 


FALL   OF   THE   WESTERN   EMPIRE         7 

had  not  taken  place,  and  now  that  the  Empire  had 
passed  into  the  hands  of  the  Barbarians  there  were 
two  social  strata,  —  the  rude  martial  conquerors  on 
top,  and  the  civilized,  feeble,  subject  race,  ten  times 
as  numerous,  underneath.  It  was  obvious  to  the 
wiser  Barbarian  chiefs,  trained  as  they  were  in 
Roman  ways,  that  if  they  were  to  get  stable  domin- 
ion and  civilized  government,  they  must  adopt  the 
complicated  Imperial  machinery.  They  saw  that 
unless  the  Barbarians  learned  Roman  civilization, 
they  would  need  hundreds  of  years  to  create  any 
such  civilization  of  their  own.  This  was  especially 
true  in  Italy.  Odoacer,  the  general  who  deposed 
Romulus  Augustulus,  well  knew  that  a  state  which 
had  its  military  service  all  Barbarian  and  its  civil 
service  all  Roman  could  not  stand  firm.  Barbarian 
sovereignty  needed  support,  especially  legal  support, 
in  the  eyes  of  the  subject  population.  Such  legiti- 
macy could  only  come  from  the  Empire.  Odoacer 
and  other  intelligent  Barbarians  turned  instinctively 
to  Constantinople  for  recognition.  They  did  not 
think  that  they  had  overturned  or  suppressed  the 
Empire.  Nobody  thought  that  there  were  two  Em- 
pires, one  Eastern  and  one  Western,  one  enduring 
and  one  destroyed  in  476.  To  the  Roman  world 
the  Empire  had  always  been  single,  had  always  been 
a  unit.  The  division  into  eastern  and  western  parts 
had  been  made  for  convenience  of  administration  : 
the   Empire    itself    had    never   been    divided.     Even 

after  tin-  western  countries  of  Europe  had  been 
overrun  by  the  Barbarians,  the  Emperor  at  Constan- 
tinople remained  the  supreme  and  sole  source  of 


8  A    SHORT    HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

authority  and  law.  The  very  Barbarians  could  not 
free  themselves  from  this  theory,  however  little  heed 
tin  \  paid  to  it  in  practice.  Odoacer  acknowledged 
the  sovereignty  of  the  Empire  without  question. 
He  merely  wished  to  control  the  civil  and  military 
administration  in  Italy. 

Before  beginning  a  sketch  of  the  attempts  to  found 
a  permanent  Barbarian  government  in  Italy  and  to 
combine  Barbarians  and  Romans  in  one  people,  it  is 
asary  to  speak  of  a  rising  power  which  already 
constituted  the  most  important  element  in  the  situ- 
ation. The  Church  was  not  only  the  one  vigorous 
body  in  Italy,  but  it  had  already  begun  to  fore- 
shadow its  future  greatness.  In  the  time  of  Constan- 
tinc  (323  337)  and  his  immediate  successors,  the 
bishops  of  Home  had  no  primacy  over  other  bishops, 
but  they  had  claims  to  precedence,  which  they  soon 
put  to  good  use.  Their  city  was  the  cradle  and  home 
of  Roman  dominion.  St.  Paul  had  lived  and  died 
there.  Above  all,  as  was  universally  acknowledged, 
tlu-  apostle  Peter  had  founded  their  bishopric.  Theirs, 
in  an  especial  sense,  was  the  Church  to  which  Christ 
referred  when  He  said  to  the  apostle,  "Thou  art 
Peter,  and  upon  this  rock  I  will  build  my  church; 
and  the  gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail  against  it." 
The  bishops  of  Rome  also  derived  immense  advan- 
Erom  the  absence  of  a  temporal  prince  ;  whereas 
their  chief  rivals,  the  patriarchs  of  Constantinople, 
were  w  holly  eclipsed  by  the  presence  of  the  Emperor. 
The  removal  of  the  great  offices  of  government  to 
Constantinople  and  the  absence  of  any  real  civil 
life,  had  left  Rome  even  then  a  mere  ecclesiastical 


FALL   OF   THE   WESTERN   EMPIRE        9 

city,  and  the  head  of  the  Church  became  the  most 
important  personage  there.  It  was  so  generally  ac- 
knowledged that  Roman  bishops  were  entitled  to 
that  precedence  in  rank  over  other  bishops,  which 
Rome  enjoyed  over  other  cities,  that  in  344  an  Ecu- 
menical Council  submitted  a  most  important  question 
to  the  decision  of  the  Roman  See.  One  hundred 
years  later  the  great  pope,  Leo  I,  merely  gave  utter- 
ance to  the  general  opinion  when  he  said  :  "  St.  Peter 
and  St.  Paul  are  the  Romulus  and  Remus  of  the  new 
Rome,  as  much  superior  to  the  old  as  truth  is  to 
error.  If  ancient  Rome  was  at  the  head  of  the  pagan 
world,  St.  Peter,  prince  of  the  Apostles,  came  to  teach 
in  the  new  Rome,  so  that  from  her  the  light  of  Chris- 
tianity should  be  shed  over  the  world." 

The  Roman  Church  gathered  to  herself  whatever 
remained  of  the  administrative  ability  of  ancient 
Rome.  With  acute  practical  sense  she  condemned 
those  subtle  doctrines  that  kept  springing  up  in  the 
E  ist,  late  flashes  of  Greek  metaphysics  ;  and  though 
she  may  have  cut  herself  off  from  certain  spiritual 
Neoplatonic  thought,  and  have  set  her  heart  too 
much  upon  domination,  yet  by  her  very  adherence 
to  dogma,  by  her  very  insistence  upon  uniform  law 
and  obedience,  by  steadfastly  maintaining  the  purity 
and  the  unity  of  the  Faith,  she  became  the  great 
cohesive  force  in  Europe,  and  by  creating  Christen- 
dom contributed  immensely  to  the  cause  of  Euro- 
pean civilization.  Partly  by  good  fortune,  partly  by 
h>  i  Buccess  in  making  her  cause  prevail,  Rome  was 
always  orthodox.  She  remained  Btaunchly  Trini- 
tarian.   She  fought   the  Aiians,  who  believed  that 


10  A    SHORT    HISTORY  OF  ITALY 

the  Son,  created  bj  the  Father,  could  not  be  identi- 
cal with  Him  and  could  not  have  existed  from  the 
beginning.  She  Bought  the  Nestorians,  who  alleged 
that  the  Virgin  was  the  mother  of  Christ  only  in  so 
far  as  He  was  man.  She  fought  the  Monophysites, 
who  denied  that  Christ  had  two  distinct  natures, 
human  and  divine.  She  fought  always  gallantly,  and 
always,  or  almost  always,  in  the  end  triumphantly. 
In  those  davs  ecclesiastical  affairs  were  inseparable 
from  political  a  Hairs ;  no  man  dreamed  of  severing 
them  either  in  fact  or  in  theory;  the  State  and  the 
Church  were  one  fabric  under  a  double  aspect.  The 
idea  of  the  State  apart  from  the  Church,  or  the 
Church  apart  from  the  State,  was  no  more  imagined 
than  the  Darwinian  theory. 

If  we  now  go  back  to  Odoacer,  and  to  his  Barba- 
rian successors,  we  shall  find  that  in  their  endeavours 
to  establish  an  Italian  kingdom  they  were  confronted 
by  a  threefold  task,  —  to  blend  the  Barbarian  con- 
querors and  the  subject  Latins,  to  establish  friendly 
relations  with  the  Empire,  and  to  win  the  confidence 
and  support  of  the  Orthodox  Church.  In  all  the 
long  period  of  Barbarian  dominion,  each  Barbarian 
chief  in  turn  had  to  face  the  imminent  danger  that 
these  three  political  powers,  the  subject  people,  the 
Church,  and  the  Empire,  should  make  common  cause 
against  him.  The  Barbarians,  in  fact,  were  always 
unsuccessful.  They  never  were  able  to  make  Italy 
into  one  kingdom.  These  three  enemies  were  too 
strong  for  them.  The  inherent  difficulties  of  the 
situation  appear  at  once  on  the  deposition  of  Rom- 
ulus Angustulus,  and  give  whatever  interest  there  is 


FALL   OF   THE   WESTERN   EMPIRE       11 

to  Odoacer's  brief  career.  Over  that  career,  which 
bridges  the  years  476  to  489,  we  need  not  pause, 
for  Odoacer's  attempt  to  establish  a  permanent  gov- 
ernment over  all  Italy  was  so  ephemeral,  and  also 
so  similar  in  all  essential  features  to  that  of  the 
Ostrogoths,  his  successors,  that  an  account  of  their 
attempt  may  serve  for  his  as  well. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  OSTROGOTHS  (489-553) 

The  Ostrogoths  were  a  fine  people;  and  historians 
bave  speculated  sadly  on  the  immense  advantage,  the 
vast  saving  of  ills,  that  would  have  accrued  to  Italy 
had  they  succeeded  in  their  attempt  to  establish  a 
kingdom.  Such  a  union  of  strength  and  vigour  with 
the  gifted  Italian  nature  might  well  have  produced 
a  happy  result.  But  my  business  is  merely  to  indi- 
cate why  and  how  the  attempt  failed. 

The  Ostrogoths  (East  Goths),  one  branch  of  the 
great  Gothic  nation,  of  which  the  Visigoths  (West 
Goths)  were  the  other,  immediately  prior  to  their 
invasion  of  Italy  inhabited  Pannonia  (now  Austria) 
on  the  south  side  of  the  Danube.  They  were  a  war- 
like people,  and  had  given  much  trouble  to  the  East- 
cm  Emperors,  who  had  been  obliged  not  only  to 
bestow  upon  them  territory,  but  also  to  pay  tribute. 
The  reigning  Emperor  eagerly  seized  the  first  oppor- 
tunity to  rid  himself  of  them.  He  suggested  to  their 
king,  Theodoric,  —  hunter,  soldier,  statesman,  a  big- 
limbed,  heroic  man,  passionate  but  just,  —  that  he 
should  lead  his  people  into  Italy,  conquer  Odoacer, 
and  rule  as  Imperial  lieutenant.  As  Italy  was  far 
pleasanter  than  Pannonia,  Theodoric  gladly  accepted 
the  suggestion. 

The  Goths,  not  more  than  two  or  three  hundred 


THE   OSTROGOTHS  13 

thousand  persons  all  told,  effected  their  tedious  emi- 
gration in  -iSS— 189.  It  was  an  easy  matter  to  defeat 
the  unstable  Odoacer,  and  the  Latins  made  no  resist- 
ance. Theodoric,  now  master  of  Italy,  both  by  right 
of  conquest  and  by  Imperial  commission,  set  himself, 
in  his  turn,  to  the  task  of  uniting  Barbarians  and 
Romans  throughout  the  peninsula  under  one  sta- 
ble government.  His  difficulties  were  great.  In  the 
first  place  the  immigrating  people  whom  he  led, 
though  mainly  Goths,  were  a  medley  of  various 
tribes,  and  constituted  an  alien  army  of  occupation 
in  the  midst  of  an  unfriendly  population,  perhaps 
ten  times  their  number.  This  Roman  population, 
which  had  completely  given  up  the  use  of  arms,  and 
never  took  part  in  any  fight  more  formidable  than  a 
riot,  was  largely  urban  and  lived  in  the  cities  which 
were  scattered  over  Italy,  almost  the  same  that  exist 
to  this  day.  In  the  north  were  Turin,  Pavia,  Fer- 
rara,  Milan.  Bergamo,  Verona,  Aquileia  ;  on  the  east 
coast,  Ravenna,  Rimini,  Ancona ;  on  the  west  coast 
and  in  the  centre,  Genoa,  Pisa,  Lucca,  Perugia,  Spo- 
leto,  Rome,  Benevento,  Naples,  Salerno,  Amain  ;  and 
in  the  south,  the  old  Greek  cities.  All  the  ordinary 
business  of  life  was  in  Roman  hands;  lawyers,  phy- 
sicians, weavers,  spinners,  carpenters,  masons,  cob- 
blers, were  Roman.  Many  of  the  workmen  on  great 
estates  were  also  Roman.  The  Goths  were  primarily 
men-at-arms,  and  only  exercised  such  rude  crafts  as 
were  required  in  village  communities.  The  leaders 
became  military  landowners.  Naturally  each  race 
looked  upon  the  other  with  suspicion,  dislike,  and 

Contempt.     It  is  obvious  that  there  was  need  of  !>«>tli 


[4  A    SHORT    HISTORY   OF  ITALY 

time  and  statesmanship  before  the  two  races  would 
understand  each  other,  share  occupations,  inter- 
marry, and  t'cel  themselves  countrymen. 

Theodoric's  policy  falls  under  three  heads,  —  rela- 
tions with  the  subject  population,  with  the  Emperor, 
and  with  the  Church.  With  the  Romans  Theodoric 
was  just  and  considerate  ;  he  limited  the  division  of 
lands  among  his  followers,  so  far  as  he  could,  to 
those  lands  which  Odoacer's  followers  had  had;  he 
left  civil  administration  chiefly  in  Roman  hands  ; 
he  let  Romans  live  under  Roman  law  and  Goths  un- 
der Gothic  law.  He  employed  as  his  chief  counsel- 
lor Cassiodorus,  a  great  Roman  noble  of  wealth 
and  Learning;  he  issued  a  code  compiled  from  the 
Imperial  codes;  he  reduced  the  taxation.  Following 
the  custom  of  the  late  Western  Emperors,  he  dwelt  in 
Ravenna,  where  S.  Apollinare Nuovo,  S.  Sjnrito,^ 
baptistery,  and  a  mausoleum  still  testify  to  his  pre- 
sence. When  the  State  had  been  put  in  order,  Theo- 
doric made  a  royal  progress  to  Rome  (500),  where 
he  was  welcomed  with  Imperial  honours.  He  promised 
to  uphold  all  the  institutions  established  by  Roman 
Emperors,  and  showed  himself  as  much  interested  in 
the  city  as  if  he  had  been  a  Roman.  He  provided 
carefully  for  the  preservation  of  all  the  monuments 
of  antiquity,  repaired  the  walls,  the  aqueducts,  the 
cloacae,  and  drained  the  Pontine  Marshes.  He  spoke 
of  Rome  as  "  the  city  which  is  indifferent  to  none, 
since  she  is  foreign  to  none ;  the  fruitful  mother  of 
eloquence,  the  spacious  temple  of  every  virtue,  com- 
prising  within  herself  all  the  cherished  marvels  of 
the  universe,  so  that  it  may  in  truth  be  said,  Rome 


THE   OSTROGOTHS  15 

is  herself  one  great  marvel."  !  He  renewed  the  dis- 
tribution of  bread,  celebrated  games  in  the  circus, 
and  treated  the  Senate  with  great  distinction.  In 
fact,  until  his  breach  with  the  Church,  which  turned 
all  the  orthodox  population  against  him,  he  walked 
closely  in  the  Imperial  footsteps  and  was  very  suc- 
cessful in  his  relations  with  the  Latin  people. 

Dealings  with  the  Emperor  were  more  difficult. 
Immediately  after  his  victory  over  Odoacer,  Theo- 
doric  had  asked  the  Emperor  for  the  regalia  (the 
crown  jewels  and  Imperial  vestments)  of  the  West, 
which  had  been  sent  to  Constantinople  upon  the  de- 
position of  Romulus  Augustulus.  This  embassy  had 
been  at  first  fobbed  off,  but  finally  the  regalia  were 
sent  him  in  token  of  full  recognition  of  his  authority. 
In  the  mean  time  Theodoric's  army  without  waiting 
for  permission  from  the  Emperor  had  proclaimed  him 
king  ;  and  in  practice  Theodoric  always  acted  as  an 
independent  king.  In  theory,  however,  he  accepted 
the  inclusion  of  Italy  in  the  Empire  as  a  fundamen- 
tal principle,  and  acknowledged  that  his  position  was 
merely  that  of  ruler  of  one  of  the  Imperial  provinces. 
The  Emperors,  compelled  by  impotence  to  acquiesce 
in  Theodoric's  lieutenancy  of  Italy,  wished  him  in 
their  hearts  all  possible  bad  luck,  and  bided  their  time 
to  make  trouble  for  him.  But  this  ill  will  was  con- 
cealed beneath  the  surface,  and  for  about  thirty 
years  his  relations  with  the  Empire,  with  some  inter- 
ruptions, were  amicable  enough. 

Before  speaking  of  Theodoric's  relations  with  the 
Church,  which  were  a  matter  of  politics,  and  had  to 

1  Rome  in  the  Middle  Ages,  Grcgorovius,  vol.  i,  p.  'J9T>. 


L6  A    SHORT   BISTORY   OF    ITALY 

be  considered  by  him  on  general  grounds  of  policy, 
it  i-  necessary  to  speak  of  the  relations  between  the 
Church  and  tlic  Emperor,  for  the  latter  affected  the 
former.  There  were  always  difficulties,  active  or 
latent,  between  the  Roman  ('lunch  and  the  Empire. 
There  was  jealousy  between  old  Rome  and  new 
Constantinople.  There  was  misunderstanding  be- 
tween the  Latin  and  Greek  mind.  There  was  fric- 
tion between  Papal  and  Imperial  authority.  These 
troubles  will  appear  more  clearly  as  we  proceed.  At 
this  time  it  is  only  necessary  to  say  that  during  the 
firsl  thirty  years  of  Theodoric's  reign,  his  period  of 
success  and  prosperity,  there  was  discord  between 
Pope  and  Emperor,  a  kind  of  schism.  The  Byzan- 
tine Emperors,  often  men  of  cultivation,  living  in 
the  most  civilized  city  of  the  world,  interested  them- 
selves in  theology,  and  liked  nothing  better  than 
to  tinker  with  the  Faith.  To  this,  also,  they  were 
pushed  by  political  needs.  Their  subjects  were  di- 
vided into  the  orthodox  and  the  heterodox  ;  and  this 
diversity  of  belief  was  always  a  menace  to  political 
unity.  To  heal  the  breach,  the  reigning  Emperor 
devised  a  scheme  of  compromise,  a  via  media,  on 
which  he  hoped  all  would  unite.  The  Papacy,  in- 
censed by  this  trifling  with  orthodoxy,  and  by  the 
assumption  of  an  Imperial  right  to  interfere  in  mat- 
ters of  faith,  denounced  the  compromise.  A  schism 
was  the  consequence,  which  lasted  until  the  reign 
of  the  Emperor  Justin  (518-527),  when  the  crafty 
statesman  who  guided  Justin's  policy,  his  nephew, 
the  famous  Justinian,  effected  a  reconciliation.  For 
Justinian  already  cherished  an  ambition  to  win  back 


THE   OSTROGOTHS  17 

Italy  for  the  Empire ;  and  he  knew  that  that  could 
not  be  done  without  the  support  of  the  Papacy.  In 
519  a  papal  embassy  bearing  the  olive  branch  was 
warmly  welcomed  at  Constantinople;  both  Emperor 
and  nephew  condemned  the  compromise  and  accepted 
the  orthodox  Catholic  faith.  Thus  the  breach  was 
healed. 

During1  the  period  of  this  breach  between  Empire 
and  Papacy,  the  Gothic  king  had  managed  his  rela- 
tions with  the  Church  very  prudently.  Although  an 
Arian  (like  all  Barbarians  except  the  Franks),  he  was 
exceedingly  just  to  the  Catholics.  He  carefully  re- 
frained from  taking  part  in  the  domestic  affairs  of  the 
Church,  until  he  was  compelled  to  do  so  in  the  in- 
terest of  order.  While  in  Rome  he  maintained  a  most 
correct  attitude.  But  though  he  acted  with  great 
moderation  and  only  followed  Imperial  precedents, 
the  Church  resented  his  interference.  Do  what  Theo- 
doric  would,  the  Papacy  was  his  natural  enemy.  It 
felt  instinctively  that  a  king  of  Italy  must  always 
overshadow  the  Pope,  just  as  at  Constantinople 
the  Emperor  eclipsed  the  Patriarch,  and  that  only 
upon  condition  of  keeping  Italy  without  a  strong 
government  within  its  borders  could  the  Church  at- 
tain its  full  stature.  The  ecclesiastical  power  was 
already  inimical  to  civil  authority.  The  attitude  of 
the  Church  toward  Theodoric  presaged  the  history 
of  the  Holy  Roman  Empire  during  the  Middle  Ages, 
and  the  kingdom  of  Italy  in  our  day.  Nevertheless, 
until  the  reconciliation  of  Emperor  and  Pope, Theo- 
doric had  do  serious  trouble. 

About  the  year  524  the  crafty  Justinian,  strong 


L8  \    SHORT    HISTORY   OF  ITALY 

in  bis  complete  reconciliation  with  the  Papacy,  felt 
the  time  ripe  to  Bet  about  the  recovery  of  the  lost 
provinces  of  the  West,  and  made  the  first  hostile 
move.  Perhaps,  however,  it  is  unjust  to  assign  a 
purely  political  motive  to  Justinian's  action,  for  in 
his  active  Byzantine  brain,  policy,  theology,  law,  art, 
and  ambition  were  curiously  blended.  An  Imperial 
edict  was  issued,  persecuting  Arians  in  various  ways, 
and  in  particular  commanding  that  all  Arian  churches 
throughout  the  Empire  should  be  handed  over  to 
Catholics.  This  action  of  course  received  the  ap- 
proval of  the  Pope,  and  was  most  effective  in  alien- 
ating the  Arian  Goths  from  the  Catholic  Latins. 
Theodoric,  who  had  been  consistently  tolerant  to 
Catholics,  was  very  angry  and  threatened  to  retali- 
ate by  suppressing  the  Catholic  ritual  throughout 
[taly.  This  threat  threw  the  Papacy  into  closer  al- 
liance with  the  Emperor,  and  aggrieved  the  Latin 
people.  A  new  generation  had  grown  up  in  peace 
and  comparative  prosperity  under  Theodoric's  rule, 
and.  forgetful  that  for  these  blessings  it  was  indebted 
to  the  Goths,  began  to  give  free  play  to  its  Latin 
prejudices.  Thus  the  three  natural  enemies  of  Gothic 
mil'  gradually  drewtogether :  the  Empire,  from  desire 
to  recover  Italy  ;  the  Papacy,  to  be  rid  of  a  ruler; 
and  the  Latins,  out  of  national  prejudice. 

Intrigues  were  started  between  Constantinople 
and  some  leading  men  in  Rome.  How  far  the 
conspiracy  went  nobody  knew.  The  king  was  in 
no  mood  to  act  judicially.  Several  senators  were 
arrested  on  the  charge  of  high  treason,  tried  before 
partial  or  irregular  tribunals,  and  put  to  death.    Of 


THE   OSTROGOTHS  19 

these  senators  the  most  famous  was  Boethius,  who 
stands  at  the  end  of  Roman  civilization,  as  Dante 
stands  at  the  beginning  of  modern  civilization.  The 
long"  centuries  between  the  two  constitute  the  Middle 
Ages.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  Dante  in  his 
desolation  after  the  death  of  Beatrice  took  to  con- 
sole him  the  book  which  Boethius  wrote  in  prison, 
the  "  Consolations  of  Philosophy." 

Boethius  came  of  the  most  distinguished  family 
in  Rome.  He  and  both  his  sons  had  been  consuls. 
He  was  a  student  of  Plato,  Aristotle,  and  of  the 
Neoplatonists ;  he  had  translated  treatises  on  mathe- 
matics from  the  Greek,  and  had  written  on  philo- 
sophv  and  theology.  He  was  an  encyclopedia  of 
knowledge ;  when  a  hydraulic  watch  was  wanted, 
or  an  especially  magnificent  sundial,  or  a  test  to 
detect  counterfeit  money,  or  a  musician  to  be  sent 
to  a  foreign  potentate,  he  was  the  man  to  be  con- 
sulted. His  "  Consolations  of  Philosophy,"  which 
had  immense  vogue  all  through  the  Middle  Ages 
in  every  language,  furnishes  his  apology,  his  case 
against  Theodoric,  and  gives  the  Latin  view  of  the 
Barbarians.  He  says  :  "  The  hatred  against  me  was 
incurred  while  I  was  in  office,  because  I  opposed  the 
acta  of  oppression  to  which  the  Romans  were  sub- 
jected. Tin-  greed  of  the  Barbarians  for  the  lands 
of  the  Romans,  always  unpunished,  grew  greater 
day  by  day;  they  sought  men's  lives  in  order  to 
gel  their  goods.  How  often  have  I  protected  and 
defended  wretches  from  the  innumerable  calumnies 
of  the  Barbarians  who  wished  to  devour  them."  ' 
1  /.<?  vuxuioni  barbariehe,  Villari,  pp,  ic.7,  L68,  translated. 


20  A    SHOBT    HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

To  this  Roman  defence  must  be  opposed  the  state- 
ment of  ;i  contemporary  historian  :  "  Everything 
aboul  the  Barbarians,  even  the  very  smell  of  them, 
was  hateful  to  the  Romans;  nevertheless  it  often 
happened  that  they,  especially  the  poor,  preferred 
the  oppression  of  the  Barbarians  to  that  of  the 
Imperial  officials.  The  rich  Romans  impose  taxes 
luit  they  do  not  pay  them;  they  make  the  poor  pay 
them.  And  when  peradventure  the  taxes  are  dimin- 
ished the  relief  goes  not  to  the  poor  but  to  the  rich; 
so  that,  when  it  is  a  matter  of  paying  it  concerns  the 
people,  and  when  it  comes  to  the  matter  of  reducing 
taxes  it  is  as  if  the  rich  were  the  only  persons  taxed 
at  all.  Not  Franks,  Huns,  Vandals,  nor  Goths  be- 
have so  shamelessly." 

In  spite  of  trials  and  executions  Theodoric's  an- 
ger and  suspicion  increased  ;  he  compelled  the  Pope 
to  go  to  Constantinople  to  ask  that  the  Arians 
be  treated  fairly  and  the  Ariau  churches  restored. 
The  Pope  returned  having  obtained  some  favours 
for  the  Catholics,  but  nothing  for  the  Arians; 
whereupon  Theodoric  threw  him  into  prison,  and 
kept  him  there  till  he  died  (526).  He  then  nomi- 
nated a  successor,  who  was  promptly  elected  by  the 
frightened  Romans.  This  high-handed  action  stimu- 
lated  discontent  so  much  that  it  seemed  as  if  the 
time  for  a  Byzantine  invasion  had  come,  but  Jus- 
tinian, not  having  fully  spun  his  web,  delayed.  Per- 
haps he  feared  Theodoric  and  wished  to  wait  for 
his  death.  He  did  not  have  to  wait  long.  That 
summer  Theodoric  died,  and  with  him  Italy's  best 
hopes  died  too. 


THE   OSTROGOTHS  21 

With  Theodoric's  death  ended  the  possibility  of 
a  Gothic  monarchy.  Even  in  his  reign  a  process  of 
deterioration  had  set  in  among  the  young  genera- 
tion.  The  decadent  civilization  of  Italy  wrought 
with  fatal  effect  upon  the  simple  Goths ;  the  luxu- 
rious ways,  the  idle  habits,  even  the  refinements 
of  the  Lathis,  robbed  them  of  their  vigour  and  in- 
dependence of  character.  The  conquerors  became 
divided  among  themselves ;  some  inclined  to  the 
old  Gothic  traditions,  some  to  the  Latin  ways.  The 
royal  house  affords  a  conspicuous  instance  of  this 
deterioration  ;  the  boy  king  succumbed  to  debauch- 
ery, his  mother  fell  a  victim  to  her  Latin  sympathies, 
and  his  cousin,  last  of  the  royal  line,  a  student  of 
literature  and  philosophy,  showed  himself  perfectly 
incapable  of  action  and  was  deposed  by  his  soldiers. 
Justinian,  the  spider,  had  been  biding  his  opportu- 
nity ;  now  it  had  surely  come.  The  Goths  were 
disintegrated ;  the  Papacy  and  Latin  people  were 
with  him  ;  and  his  great  general,  Belisarius,  fresh 
from  the  brilliant  conquest  of  the  Vandal  kingdom 
in  Africa,  was  ready  for  the  task.  In  535  the  war 
for  the  reconquest  of  Italy  began. 

The  Goths  were  confused,  divided,  and  without 
a  leader,  whereas  Belisarius  was  a  man  of  military 
genius,  and  his  army  was  composed  of  veterans.  The 
issue  could  nol  remain  long  in  doubt.   Naples,  Rome, 

and  finally  Ravenna,  fell,  and  the  reconquest  would 
have  been  complete,  but  that  Justinian,  jealous  of 
a  too  Buccessfu]  general,  recalled  Belisarius;  The 
Goths    improved    their    respite,   and    then-    king, 

Totila.  a   very  valiant  soldier,  £ or  a  time  retrieved 


22  A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

their  Bailing  fortunes.  Justinian,  however,  who  had 
a  remarkable  knowledge  of  men,  appointed  general- 

in-chief  ail  extraordinary  little  old  man,  Narses,  who, 
devoid  of  all  military  experience,  had  passed  his 
life  in  the  Imperial  civil  service.  Narses  handled 
his  men  as  it'  he  had  heen  horn  and  bred  in  a  camp, 
and,  alter  a  comparatively  brief  campaign  in  which 
Totila  was  killed,  compelled  the  last  remnant  of  the 
Gothic  army  to  surrender  (553). 

Thus  ended  the  first  attempt  to  erect  a  Barbarian 
kingdom  in  Italy.  Its  failure  proved  that  without 
the  support  of  the  Catholic  Church  it  was  impos- 
sible to  establish  a  kingdom  of  Italy,  for  the  Church 
controlled  the  Latin  people,  and  though  these  never 
fought,  they  had  an  hundred  ways  of  helping  friends 
and  hindering  foes. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  LOMBARD  INVASION  (5GS) 

The  Imperial  dominion  over  all  Italy  had  lasted 
scarce  a  dozen  years  before  another  Barbarian  nation, 
the  Lombards,  came  and  repeated  the  experiment  in 
which  the  Goths  had  failed.  The  period  of  Lombard 
dominion  lasted  two  hundred  years  (568-774).  It 
is  rather  an  uninteresting  time;  nevertheless,  like 
most  history?  it  has  a  dramatic  side.  It  makes  a  play 
for  four  characters.  The  Lombards  occupy  the  larger 
part  of  the  stage,  but  the  protagonist  is  the  Papacy. 
The  Empire  is  the  third  character.  Finally,  the 
Franks  come  in  and  dispossess  the  Lombards.  The 
plot,  though  it  must  spread  over  several  chapters,  is 
simple. 

The  scene  of  the  play  was  pitiful.  For  nearly 
twenty  years  (535-553)  Italy  had  been  one  per- 
petual battlefield ;  whichever  side  won,  the  unfor- 
tunate natives  had  to  lodge  and  feed  a  foreign 
army,  and  endure  all  the  insolence  of  a  brutal  sol- 
diery. Plague,  pestilence,  and  famine  followed.  The 
ordinary  business  of  life  came  to  a  stop.  Houses, 
churches,  aqueducts  went  to  ruin;  roads  were  left 
onmended,  rivers  undiked.  Great  tracts  of  fertile 
land  were  abandoned.  Cattle  roamed  without  herds- 
men, harvests  withered  up,  grapes  shrivelled  on  the 
vines.    From  lack  of  food  came  the  pest.    Mothers 


24  A    SHORT    HISTORY  OF   ITALY 

abandoned  Bict  babies,  sons  left  their  Bathers'  bodies 
anbnried.  The  inhabitants  of  the  cities  fared  no  bet- 
ter. Rome,  for  instance,  had  beeo  captured  five  times. 
Before  the  war  her  population  had  been  250,000; 
at  its  close  not  one  tenth  was  left.  It  is  said  that 
in  one  period  every  living  thing  deserted  the  city, 
and  for  forty  days  the  ancient  mistress  of  the  world 
lay  like  a  city  of  the  dead.  With  peace  came  some 
respite  ;  hut  the  frightful  squeeze  of  Byzantine  tax- 
ation A\as  as  bad  as  Barbarian  conquest.  Italy  sank 
into  ignorance  and  misery.  The  Latin  inhabitants 
hardly  eared  who  their  masters  were.  They  never 
had  spirit  enough  to  take  arms  and  fight,  but  meekly 
bowed,  their  heads.  Such  was  the  scene  on  which 
these  three  great  actors,  the  Lombards,  the  Papacy, 
and  the  Empire,  played  their  parts.  It  is  now  time 
to  describe  the  actors.  We  give  precedence  to  the 
Empire,  as  is  its  due. 

This  remnant  of  the  Roman  Empire,  with  its  cap- 
ital on  the  confines  of  Europe  and  Asia,  was  an 
anomalous  thing.  It  is  a  wonder  that  it  continued 
to  exist  at  all.  In  fact,  there  is  no  better  evidence 
of  the  immense  solidity  of  Roman  political  organ- 
ization than  the  prolonged  life  of  the  Eastern  Em- 
pire. The  countries  under  its  sway,  Thrace,  Illvria, 
Greece,  Asia  Minor,  Syria,  Palestine,  Egypt,  had  no 
bond  to  hold  them  together,  except  common  sub- 
mission to  one  central  authority.  By  the  end  of  the 
sixth  century,  the  Roman  Empire  was  really  Greek. 
The  Greek  language  was  spoken  almost  exclusively 
in  Constantinople,  Latin  having  dropped  even  from 
official  use.    Yet  the  Empire  was  still  regarded  as 


THE   LOMBARD   INVASION  25 

the  Roman  Empire,  and  was  looked  up  to  by  the 
young  Barbarian  kingdoms  of  Europe  with  the 
respect  which  they  deemed  due  to  the  Empire  of 
Augustus  and  Trajan.  For  instance,  a  king  of  the 
Franks  addresses  the  Emperor  thus :  "  Glorious, 
pious,  perpetual,  renowned,  triumphant  Lord,  ever 
Augustus,  my  father  Maurice,  Imperator,"  and  is 
content  to  be  called  in  return,  "  Childipert,  glori- 
ous man,  king  of  the  Franks."  Yet  it  must  be  re- 
membered that  Constantinople  at  this  time  was  the 
chief  city  of  Europe.  Greek  thought  and  Greek  art 
lingered  there.  Justinian  had  just  built  St.  Sophia. 
In  fact,  Constantinople  continued  for  centuries  to 
be  the  most  civilized  city  in  the  world. 

The  Imperial  government  was  an  autocracy ;  all 
the  reins,  civil,  military,  ecclesiastical,  were  gathered 
into  the  hands  of  the  Emperor.  Its  foreign  policy 
was  to  repel  its  enemies,  Persians  to  the  east,  Avars 
to  the  north,  Arabs  to  the  south  ;  its  domestic  policy 
was  to  hold  its  provinces  together  and  to  extort 
money.  The  Emperors,  many  of  whom  were  able 
men,  usually  spent  such  time  as  could  be  spared  from 
questions  of  national  defence  and  of  finance  in  the 
study  of  theology,  for  at  Constantinople  the  problems 
of  government  were  in  great  measure  religious.  Next 
to  the  actual  physical  needs  of  life,  the  main  interest 
of  the  people  was  religion.  A  statesman  who  sought  to 
preserve  the  Empire  whole,  of  necessity  endeavoured 
to  hold  together  its  incohesive  parts  by  means  of 
religious  unity.  This  political  need  of  religious  unity 
is  the  explanation,  in  the  main,  of  the  frequent  theo- 
logical edicts  and  enactments. 


26  A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

The  Emperors  governed  Italy, after  the  reconquest, 

by  an  Imperial  lieutenant,  the  Exarch,  who  resided 
at  Ravenna,  under  a  system  of  administration  pre- 
Berved  in  mutilated  form  from  times  prior  to  the  fall 
<>l'  Romulus  Augustulus.  An  attempt  was  made  to 
keep  civil  and  military  affairs  separate,  but  the  pres- 
sure of  constant  war  threw  all  the  power  into  military 
hands.  The  peninsula,  or  such  part  of  it  as  remained 
Imperial  after  the  Lombard  invasion,  was  divided  for 
administrative  and  military  purposes  into  dukedoms 
and  counties,  which  were  governed  by  dukes  and  gen- 
erals. The  Byzantine  officials  were  usually  Greeks, 
bred  in  Constantinople  and  trained  in  the  Imperial 
system  ;  they  regarded  themselves  as  foreigners,  and 
had  neither  the  will  nor  the  skill  to  be  of  use  to 
Italy.  Their  public  business  was  to  raise  money  for 
the  Empire,  their  private  business  to  raise  money  for 
themselves. 

In  spite  of  these  oppressions  the  Latin  people  pre- 
ferred the  Greeks  to  the  Lombards,  partly  because  of 
their  common  Greco-Roman  civilization,  partly  be- 
cause the  Empire  was  still  the  Roman  Empire ;  and 
this  popular  support  stood  the  Empire  in  good  stead 
in  the  long  war  which  it  waged  with  the  Lombards. 
The  Latin  people  did  not  fight,  but  they  gave  food 
and  information.  The  Empire,  however,  was  ill  pre- 
pared for  a  contest.  The  recall  of  Narses  removed 
from  Italy  the  last  bulwark  against  Barbarian  inva- 
sion. The  Imperial  army  was  weak,  cities  were  poorly 
garrisoned,  fortifications  badly  constructed  ;  and,  but 
for  the  control  of  the  sea  which  enabled  the  Empire 
to  hold  the  towns  on  the  sea-coast,  the  whole  of  Italy 


THE   LOMBARD   INVASION  27 

would  have  fallen,  like  a  ripe  apple,  into  the  hands 
of  the  invaders.  The  Empire,  in  fact,  was  exhausted 
by  the  effort  of  reconquest  and  had  neither  moral  nor 
material  strength  to  spare  from  its  home  needs. 

The  Lombards,  if  inferior  in  dignity  to  the  Empire, 
played  a  far  more  active  part  in  this  historic  drama. 
They  came  originally  from  the  mysterious  North,  and 
after  wandering  about  eastern  Europe  had  at  last 
settled  near  the  Danube,  where  part  of  them  were 
converted  to  Arian  Christianity.  Discontented  with 
their  habitation,  and  pressed  by  wilder  Barbarians 
behind  them,  they  were  glad  to  take  advantage  of  the 
defenceless  condition  of  Italy.  They  knew  how  plea- 
sant a  land  it  was,  for  many  of  them  had  served  as 
mercenaries  under  Narses.  The  whole  nation,  with 
a  motley  following  from  various  tribes,  amounted  to 
about  two  or  three  hundred  thousand  persons.  They 
crossed  the  Alps  in  568. 

There  were  many  points  of  difference  between 
these  invaders  and  the  Goths.  The  Lombards  had 
had  little  intercourse  with  the  Empire,  and  were  far 
less  civilized  than  their  predecessors,  and  far  inferior 
in  both  military  and  administrative  capacity.  Their 
leader,  AJboin,  cannot  be  compared  in  any  respect 
with  Theodoric  Moreover,  Theodoric  came,  nomi- 
nally,'it  least,  as  lieutenant  of  the  Emperor,  and  affected 
to  deem  his  sovereignty  the  continuation  of  Imperial 
rule;  whereas  the  Lombards  regarded  only  the  title 
of  the  sword  and  invariably  fought  the  Empire  as  an 

enemy. 

The  invaders  met  little  active  resistance  ;  if  they 
had  had  control  of  the  sea,  they  would  readily  have 


28  A    SHORT    HISTORY   OF  ITALY 

conquered  the  whole  peninsula.  They  overran  the 
Nmtli  and  strips  of  territory  down  the  centre  within 
a  i'tw  years,  and  afterwards  gradually  spread  little 
by  little;  but  they  never  conquered  the  South,  the 
ducli\  <»1  Rome,  or  the  Adriatic  coast.  For  the 
greater  part  of  the  two  hundred  years  during  which 
t  he  Lombard  dominion  existed,  the  map  of  Italy 
bore  the  following  aspect:  the  Empire  retained  the 
little  peninsula  of  Istria ;  the  long  strip  of  coast 
from  the  lowlands  of  Venetia  to  Ancona,  protected 
by  its  maritime  cities,  Ravenna,  Rimini,  Pesaro,  Sini- 
gaglia  ;  and  the  duchy  of  Rome,  which  spread  along 
the  Tyrrhene  shore  from  Civita  Vecchia  to  Gaeta ; 
Naples  and  Amalfi ;  the  territories  of  the  heel  and 
toe;  and  also  Sicily  and  Sardinia.  The  boundaries 
were  never  fixed.  Of  the  Lombard  kingdom  all 
one  need  remember  is  that  it  was  a  loose  confeder- 
ation of  three  dozen  duchies;  and  that  of  these 
duchies,  Spoleto,  a  little  north  of  Rome,  and  Bene- 
vento,  a  little  northeast  of  Naples,  were  the  most 
important,  as  well  as  the  most  detached  from  the 
kingdom.  In  fact,  these  two  were  independent 
duchies,  and  rarely  if  ever  took  commands  from 
Pavia,  the  king's  capital,  except  upon  compulsion. 

At  the  time  of  the  invasion  the  Lombards  were 
barbarians  ;  and  they  did  not  make  rapid  progress 
in  civilization.  Fond  of  their  native  ways,  of  hunt- 
ing and  brawling,  they  were  loath  to  adopt  the  arts 
of  peace,  and  left  most  forms  of  craft  and  industry 
to  the  conquered  Latins.  Nevertheless,  it  was  im- 
possible to  avoid  the  consequences  of  daily  contact 
with  a  far  more  developed  people,  and  their  manners 


THE   LOMBARD   INVASION  29 

became  more  civilized  with  each  generation.  The 
royal  house  affords  an  indication  of  the  change 
which  was  wrought  during  the  two  hundred  years. 
Alboin,  the  original  invader  (died  573),  killed  an- 
other Barbarian  king,  married  his  daughter,  and 
forced  her  to  drink  from  a  cup  made  of  her  father's 
skull.  The  last  Lombard  king,  Desiderius  (died 
about  7S0),  cultivated  the  society  of  scholars,  and 
his  daughter  learned  by  heart  "  the  golden  maxims 
of  philosophy  and  the  gems  of  poetry."  Each 
advance  of  the  Lombards  in  civilization  was  a  gain 
to  the  Latins,  who,  especially  in  the  country  where 
they  worked  on  farms,  were  little  better  than  serfs. 
The  two  races  drew  together  slowly.  The  conversion 
of  the  Lombards  from  Arian  to  Catholic  Christianity 
(600-700)  diminished  the  distance  between  them. 
Intermarriage  must  soon  have  begun ;  but  not  until 
the  conquest  by  the  Franks  does  there  seem  to  have 
been  any  real  blending  of  the  races. 

The  most  conspicuous  trait  in  the  Lombard  char- 
acter was  political  incompetence.  It  would  have 
required  but  a  little  steadiness  of  puqiose,  a  little 
political  foresight,  a  little  spurt  of  energy,  to  con- 
quer Ravenna,  Rome,  Naples  and  the  other  cities 
held  by  the  Byzantines,  and  make  Italy  into  one 
kingdom.  Failure  was  due  to  the  weakness  of  the 
central  government,  which  was  unable  to  weld  the 
petty  dukedoms  together.  This  cutting  up  of  Italy 
into  many  divisions  left  deep  sears.     Each  city,  with 

tin-  territory  immediately  around  it,  began  to  regard 

itself  as  a  Beparate  Btate,  with  no  sense  of  duty  to- 
wards   a    common    country;   each    cultivated    indi- 


30     A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  ITALY 

vidualitv  and  jealousy  of  its  neighbours,  until  these 
qualities,  gradually  growing  during  two  hundred 
vt.us.  presented  insuperable  difficulties  to  the  for- 
mation of  an  Italian  national  kingdom. 

In  spite  of  their  political  incompetence  the  Lom- 
bards left  their  mark  on  Italy,  especially  on  Lom- 
bardy  and  the  regions  occupied  by  the  strong  duchies 
of  Spoleto  and  Benevento.  For  centuries  Lombard 
blood  appears  in  men  of  vigorous  character  ;  and 
Lombard  names,  softened  to  suit  Italian  ears,  linger 
on  among  the  nobility.  In  fact,  the  aristocracy  of 
Italy  from  Milan  to  Naples  was  mainly  Teutonic, 
and  the  principal  element  of  the  Teutonic  strain  was 
Lombard. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE   CHURCH   (56S-700) 

Oxe  great  political  effect  of  the  Lombard  conquest 
was  the  opportunity  which  it  gave  the  Papacy,  while 
Lombard  and  Byzantine  were  buffeting  each  other, 
to  grow  strong  and  independent.  Had  Italy  remained 
a  Greek  province  the  Pope  would  have  been  a  mere 
provincial  bishop,  barely  taking  ceremonial  prece- 
dence of  the  metropolitans  of  Ravenna,  Aquileia,  and 
Milan ;  had  Italy  become  a  Lombard  kingdom,  the 
Pope  would  have  been  a  royal  appointee  ;  but  with 
the  Lombard  kings  fighting  the  Byzantine  Exarchs, 
each  side  needing  papal  aid  and  sometimes  bidding 
for  it,  the  Pope  was  enabled  to  become  master  of 
the  city  and  of  the  duchy  of  Rome,  and  the  real  head 
of  the  Latin  people  as  well  as  of  the  Latin  clergy. 
In  fact,  the  growth  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church 
is  the  most  interesting  development  in  this  period. 
The  Lombards  gave  it  the  opportunity  to  grow  strong 
and  independent,  but  the  power  to  take  advantage 
of  the  opportunity  came  from  within.  This  power 
irascompacl  of  many  elements,  secular  and  spiritual. 
From  the  ills  of  the  world  men  betook  themselves 
with  southern  impulsiveness  to  things  religious ;  they 
Boughl  refuge,  order,  security  in  the  Church.  In  the 
greater  interests  of  life  among  the  Latins  the  ris- 
ing i  cclesiastica]  Eabric  had  do  competitor.  Paganism 


32  A    SHORT    HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

had  vanished  before  Christianity,  philosophy  before 
theology,  literature,  art,  science  had  perished.  Italy 
ha«l  ceased  to  he  a  country.  The  ancient  Empire  of 
Rome  had  faded  into  a  far-away  memory.  The  wreck 
of  the  old  nobility  left  the  ecclesiastical  hierarchy 
without  a  rival.  In  the  midst  of  the  general  ruin  of 
Roman  civilization  the  Church  stood  stable,  offering: 
peace  to  the  timid,  comfort  to  the  afflicted,  refinement 
to  the  gentle,  a  home  to  the  homeless,  a  career  to  the 
ambitious,  power  to  the  strong.  By  a  hundred  strings 
the  Church  drew  men  to  her;  in  a  hundred  modes 
she  sowed  the  prolific  seeds  of  ecclesiastical  patriot- 
ism. She  was  essentially  Roman,  and  gathered  to 
herself  whatever  was  left  of  life  and  vigour  in  the 
Roman  people.  With  a  structure  and  organization 
framed  on  the  Imperial  pattern,  she  slowly  assumed 
in  men's  minds  an  Imperial  image  ;  and  Rome,  a  pro- 
vincial town  whose  civil  magistrates  busied  themselves 
with  sewers  and  aqueducts,  again  began  to  inspire 
men  with  a  strange  confidence  in  a  new  Imperial 
power. 

In  addition  to  the  strength  derived  from  her  im- 
mense moral  and  spiritual  services,  the  Church  had 
the  support  of  two  potent  forces,  ignorance  and  su- 
perstition. The  general  break-up  of  the  old  order  had 
lowered  the  common  level  of  knowledge.  Everybody 
was  ignorant,  everybody  was  superstitious.  The  laws 
of  nature  were  wholly  unknown.  Every  ill  that 
happened,  whether  a  man  tripped  over  his  threshold, 
or  a  thunderbolt  hit  his  roof,  was  ascribed  to  diabolic 
agencies.  The  old  pagan  personification  of  natural 
forces,  without  its  poetry,  was  revived.    The   only 


THE   CHURCH  33 

help  lay  in  the  priest,  a  kind  of  magical  protector, 
who  with  beads,  relics,  bones,  incense,  and  incantation 
defended  poor  humanity  from  the  assaults  of  devils. 
Thus,  while  all  civil  society  suffered  from  ignorance, 
while  every  individual  suffered  from  the  awful  daily, 
hourly,  presence  of  fear,  the  Church  profited  by 
both. 

Beside  these  intangible  resources,  the  Church,  or 
to  speak  more  precisely  the  Papacy,  had  others  of  a 
material  kind.  For  centuries  pious  men,  especially 
when  death  drew  near,  had  made  great  gifts  of  land 
to  the  bishops  of  Rome,  until  these  bishops  had  become 
the  greatest  landed  proprietors  in  Italy.  Most  of  their 
estates  were  in  Sicily,  but  others  were  scattered  all  over 
Italy,  and  even  in  Gaul,  Illyria,  Sardinia,  and  Cor- 
sica. In  extent  they  covered  as  much  as  eighteen 
hundred  square  miles,  and  yielded  an  enormous  in- 
come. This  income  enabled  the  Popes  to  maintain 
churches  and  monasteries,  schools  and  missionaries, 
to  buy  off  raiding  armies  of  Lombards,  and  also  to 
equip  soldiers  of  their  own.  These  estates  the  Church 
owned  as  a  mere  private  landlord.  During  the  Gothic 
dominion  and  the  restoration  of  Imperial  rule,  she 
had  no  rights  of  sovereignty.  But  later  on,  during 
the  disturbed  period  of  border  war  between  Lom- 
bards  and  Greeks,  we  find  the  Popes  actually  ruling 
the  duchy  of  Borne. 

The  corner-stone  of  the  great  papal  power,  how- 
ever, was  laid  by  the  genius  <»t'  one  man,  who  organ- 
ized the  monastic  senthnenl  of  the  sixth  century  and 
put  it  to  the  Bupporl  of  the  Papacy.  There  had  Keen 
monk-,  in  Italy  long  before  St.  Benedict  I  \80-54  1 1, 


84  A   SHORT    HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

but  as  civil  .society  disintegrated,  men  in  ever  greater 
numbers  fled  from  the  world,  and  sought  peace  in 
solitude  and  in  monastic  communities.  St.  Benedict 
perceived  that  the  monastic  rules  and  customs  de- 
rived from  the  East  were  ill  suited  to  the  West ;  so 
he  devised  a  monastic  system,  and  formulated  his 
celebrated  Rule,  which  became  the  pattern  for  all 
other  monastic  rules  in  Europe.  He  founded  a 
monastery  at  Subiaco,  a  little  village  near  Rome, 
and  afterwards  the  famous  abbey  on  Monte  Cassino, 
a  high  hill  midway  between  Rome  and  Naples,  which 
became  the  mother  of  all  Benedictine  monasteries 
and  shone  like  a  light  in  the  Dark  Ages.  Benedict's 
ideal  was  to  help  men  shut  themselves  off'  from  the 
temptations  of  life  and  realize,  as  far  as  they  could, 
the  prayer  "  Thy  kingdom  come  ...  on  earth  as  it  is 
in  Heaven."  He  ordained  community  of  property, 
and  required  a  novitiate.  Most  strictly  he  forbade 
idleness,  and  with  special  insistence  exhorted  his 
brethren  to  till  the  ground  with  their  owrn  hands. 
Intellectual  interests  followed ;  and  Benedictine 
monks  became  the  teachers  not  only  of  agriculture, 
but  of  handicraft,  of  art  and  learning.  His  Order 
spread  fast  over  Italy  and  Gaul,  and  in  time  over 
Spain,  England,  and  Germany.  Its  .  communities, 
like  the  old  castra  romana,  upheld  the  authority 
of  Rome  and  enforced  her  dominion. 

The  attractions  of  the  monastic  life  at  Monte 
Cassino  are  well  set  out  in  a  letter  written  (after 
St.  Benedict's  day)  to  one  of  the  abbots,  by  a  man 
of  the  world  who  had  once  lived  there  :  "  Though 
great  spaces  separate  me  from  your  company,  I  am 


THE   CHURCH  35 

bound  to  you  by  a  clinging  affection  that  can  never 
be  loosed,  nor  are  these  short  pages  enough  to  tell 
you  of  the  love  that  torments  me  all  the  time  for 
you,  for  the  superiors  and  for  the  brethren.  So  much 
so  that  when  I  think  about  those  leisure  days  spent 
in  holy  duties,  the  pleasant  rest  in  my  cell,  your 
sweet  religious  affection,  and  the  blessed  company 
of  those  soldiers  of  Christ,  bent  on  holy  worship, 
each  brother  setting  a  shining  example  of  a  differ- 
ent virtue,  and  the  gracious  talks  on  the  perfections 
of  our  heavenly  home,  I  am  overcome,  all  my  strength 
goes,  and  I  cannot  keep  tears  from  mingling  with 
the  sighs  that  burst  from  me.  Here  I  go  about 
among  Catholics,  men  devoted  to  Christian  worship ; 
everybody  receives  me  well,  everybody  is  kind  to 
me  from  love  of  our  father  Benedict,  and  for  the 
sake  of  your  merits ;  but  compared  with  your  mon- 
astery the  palace  is  a  prison ;  compared  with  the 
quiet  there  this  life  is  a  tempest."1 

What  Benedict  did  for  the  monastic  orders,  another 
great  man,  St.  Gregory  (540-G04) ,  did  for  the  Papacy 
itself.  Gregory  the  Great,  the  most  commanding 
figure  in  the  history  of  Europe  between  Theodoric 
and  Charlemagne,  was  a  Roman,  made -of  the  same 
stuff  as  Scipio  and  Cato,  and  presented  the  interest- 
ing character  of  a  Christian  and  an  antique  Roman 
combined.  Born  of  a  noble  Roman  family,  Gregory 
was  educated  in  Rome,  and  entered  the  service  of  the 
state,  iii  which  lie  rose  to  the  high  office  of  prefect 
of  the  city;  but,  dissatisfied  with  civil  life,  he  aban- 

1  Le  armache  italiane  del  medio  >'vo  dexcritte,  Ugo  Baliani  (trans 
btod). 


3G  A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

cloned  it  and  became  a  monk.  He  wanted  to  give  him- 
self up  wholly  to  a  monastic  life,  but  deemed  it  his 
dut\  to  accept  office  in  the  papal  service,  and  filled  the 
distinguished  position  of  papal  ambassador  (to  use  a 
modern  term)  at  the  Imperial  court  at  Constantinople. 
In  5!  K)  he  was  elected  Pope,  half  against  his  will,  for  he 
desired  to  be  either  a  monk  or  a  missionary  ;  but  he 
felt  that  the  hopes  of  civilization  and  the  future  of  re- 
ligion lay  in  the  Papacy,  and  he  applied  himself  with 
energy  to  his  new  task.  This  task  was  as  complex  and 
multifarious  as  possible.  It  concerned  all  Europe,  from 
Sicily  to  England.  Rome  itself  was  in  a  deplorable 
condition,  left  undefended  by  the  Exarch,  and  threat- 
ened by  the  Lombards  of  Spoleto,  who  harried  the 
country  to  the  very  gates,  murdering  some  Romans 
and  carrying  others  off  as  slaves.  Gregory  had  to 
take  complete  control  of  the  city,  military  and  civil. 
He  wrote  :  "  I  do  not  know  any  more  whether  I  now 
fill  the  office  of  priest  or  of  temporal  prince ;  I  must 
look  to  our  defence  and  everything  else.  I  am  pay- 
master of  the  soldiers."  He  kept  up  the  courage  of 
the  Romans,  and  tried  to  draw  spiritual  good  out  of 
their  plight.  It  wras  impossible  for  a  contemporary 
eye  to  see  that  under  present  wretchedness  lay  ger- 
minating the  seeds  of  empire  ;  yet  Gregory  acted  as  if 
he  beheld  them.  In  spite  of  apprehensions  of  the 
end  of  the  world  he  organized  the  Church  to  endure 
for  centuries.  Both  at  home  and  abroad  he  displayed 
a  tireless  activity. 

Among  the  foreign  events  of  his  pontificate  are 
the  conversion  of  England  by  Augustine  (597)  and 
the  ministry  of  St.  Columbanus  (543-615)  among 


THE   CHURCH  37 

the  Franks,  Alemanni,  and  Lombards.  It  was  Gregory 
who  saw  the  handsome  fairhaired  boys  from  Eng- 
land standing  in  the  market-place  and  said,  "  Non 
Angli  sed  augeli."  He  had  the  true  imperial  instinct, 
and  always  encouraged  the  clergy  in  distant  parts 
of  Europe  to  visit  Rome  and  to  apply  to  Rome  for 
counsel  and  aid.  The  respect  in  which  he  was  held 
may  be  inferred  from  the  titles  given  him  by  Co- 
luinbanus  :  "  To  the  holy  lord  and  father  in  Christ, 
the  most  comely  ornament  of  the  Roman  Church, 
the  most  august  flower,  so  to  speak,  of  all  this  lan- 
guishing Europe,  the  illustrious  overseer,  to  him  who 
is  skilled  to  inquire  into  the  theory  of  the  Divine 
causality,  I,  a  mean  dove  (Columbanus),  send  Greeting 
in  Christ."  Gregory  also  maintained  close  relations 
with  the  clergy  in  Africa,  and  received  homage  from 
the  Spanish  bishops,  for  Spain  had  recently  been 
converted  from  Arianism  to  Catholicism.  He  was  by 
no  means  content  to  confine  his  dealings  to  the  clergy, 
but  was  in  frequent  correspondence  with  kings  and 
queens  of  western  Europe,  as  well  as  with  the  Em- 
peror and  Empress  in  Constantinople.  His  immense 
energy  made  itself  felt  everywhere.  He  made  rules 
for  the  liturgy ;  and  mass  is  still  celebrated  partly 
according  to  his  directions.  He  reformed  church 
music  and  founded  schools  for  the  Gregorian  chant. 
He  administered  the  papal  revenues,  superintend- 
ing the  managemenl  of  farms,  stables,  and  orchards. 
lie  founded  monasteries, he  supported  hospitals  and 
asylums. 

Benedict  and  Gregory  arc  the  two  great  figures 
of  thifl  period,  and,  though  no  worthy  successor  I'ol- 


38     A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  ITALY 

lowed  for  Beveral  generations,  they  did  their  work  so 
well  that  tlu'  Papacy,  like  a  great  growing  oak,  con- 
tinued to  Bpread  its  power  conspicuously  in  the  eyes 
of  the  world,  and  also,  out  of  sight,  in  the  hearts  and 
habits  of  men. 

The  relations  between  the  Papacy  and  the  Empire 
were  difficult.  The  Popes  were  subjects  of  the  Em- 
peror. The  whole  ecclesiastical  organization  through- 
out the  Empire  was  subject  to  the  Imperial  will,  just 
as  the  civil  or  military  service  was.  The  Papacy  did 
ma  like  this  position  of  subordination  and  resented 
any  interference  in  papal  affairs.  Though  Odoacer, 
Theodoric,  and  Justinian  had  always  asserted  their 
right  to  exercise  a  supervision  over  papal  elections, 
the  Popes  had  never  acquiesced  willingly,  and  even 
in  those  early  days  showed  a  marked  disposition  to 
take  exclusive  control  of  what  they  deemed  their 
own  affairs.  It  might  be  supposed  that  the  Papacy, 
mindful  of  the  great  danger  of  a  Lombard  conquest 
of  Rome,  would  have  clung  to  the  Empire  ;  but 
after  the  Lombards  had  become  Catholics  the  gap 
between  the  Romans  and  the  Greco-Oriental  Empire 
was  nearly  as  wide  as  that  between  them  and  the 
Lombards.  There  was  a  fundamental  difference  be- 
tween the  Greek  mind,  floating  over  metaphysics 
and  speculative  theology,  and  the  Roman  mind, 
bound  to. political  conceptions  and  practical  ends. 
A  theology  which  would  satisfy  a  congregation  in 
St.  Sophia  would  not  suit  the  worshippers  in  St. 
Peter's.  The  Empire,  obliged  to  adapt  theological 
niceties  to  political  necessities,  favoured  any  creed 
of  compromise,  which  should  promote  political  con- 


THE  CHURCH  39 

cord  and  unity.  Rome,  with  its  despotic,  imperial 
instincts,  felt  that  orthodoxy  was  its  strength,  and 
maintained  an  inflexible  creed.  The  two  were  an 
ill-yoked  pair,  and  quarrels  were  inevitable. 

The  relations  between  the  Papacy  and  the  Lom- 
bards were  more  simple.  They  varied  between  war, 
and  friendship  real  or  feigned.  In  the  beginning, 
and  even,  as  we  have  seen,  in  Gregory's  time,  there 
was  war  ;  but  then  began  the  conversion  of  the  Lom- 
bards to  Christianity,  and  intervals  of  peace  fol- 
lowed, during  which  the  Lombard  king  saluted  the 
Pope  as  "Most  Holy  Father,"  and  the  Pope  replied 
"  My  well-beloved  Son." 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  COMING  OF  THE  FRANKS  (726-768) 

We  now  come  to  the  separation  of  the  Latin  world 
from  the  Greek  world  in  both  political  and  ecclesias- 
tical affairs,  and  to  the  reconstruction  of  Europe  by 
the  alliance  of  the  Franks  and  the  Papacy.  The  plot 
continues  to  be  very  simple.  The  Empire,  pressed 
by  dangerous  enemies,  tried  once  more  to  gain  polit- 
ical strength  by  ecclesiastical  legislation  ;  the  effect 
of  this  legislation  on  the  Imperial  provinces  in  Italy 
was  to  cause  rebellion.  The  Papacy  broke  the  ties 
that  bound  it  to  the  Empire ;  then,  finding  itself  de- 
fenceless before  the  Lombards,  made  an  alliance  with 
the  Franks,  who  invaded  Italy  and  overthrew  the 
Lombards. 

In  order  to  elaborate  this  plot,  we  must  begin 
with  the  great  Asiatic  movement  of  the  seventh 
century  ;  for  this  movement  acted  as  a  cause  of 
causes  to  split  the  Latins  from  the  Greeks,  to  exalt 
the  Papacy,  and  to  form  the  Holy  Roman  Empire. 
In  one  of  the  tribes  of  Arabia,  without  heralding, 
appeared  a  man,  who  at  the  age  of  forty  became  a 
religions  prophet,  and  by  the  force  of  genius  con- 
structed one  of  the  great  religions  of  the  world. 
Mohammed's  religion  worked  on  the  ardent  Arabian 
temperament  like  magic,  and  engendered  a  fierce 
passion  for  conquest  and  proselytizing.    Tribes  co- 


THE  COMING  OF  THE  FRANKS    41 

hered,  became  both  a  sect  and  a  nation,  and  swept 
like  wildfire  over  the  west  of  Asia  and  the  north  of 
Africa.  Mohammed  died  in  632,  but  his  successors, 
the  Caliphs,  carried  on  his  work  ;  under  the  inspira- 
tion of  the  slogan,  "  Before  }7ou  is  Paradise,  behind 
you  the  devil  and  the  fire  of  hell,"  they  advanced 
from  conquest  to  conquest.  Cities  and  provinces 
were  torn  from  the  Empire.  Damascus,  Syria,  Jeru- 
salem, Mesopotamia,  Armenia,  Egypt,  Rhodes  fell  in 
rapid  succession  ;  next  Africa,  bit  by  bit.  Persia 
was  beaten  to  her  knees.  Sicily  was  raided.  Twice 
Constantinople  had  to  fight  for  life. 

Naturally  Byzantine  statesmen  felt  that  some 
radical  step  must  be  taken,  or  all  the  remnants  of 
the  Empire  would  be  reduced  to  slavery.  A  vigor- 
ous Emperor,  Leo  the  Isaurian  (717-741),  took  the 
radical  step.  It  was  necessarily  religious,  for,  in 
Constantinople,  political  action  always  took  a  re- 
ligious complexion.  Leo  issued  a  decree  forbidding 
the  use  of  images  in  churches  and  in  Christian  wor- 
ship (726).  Those  in  place  he  ordered  broken.  He 
acted  no  doubt  from  high  motives,  thinking  to  en- 
noble religion  and  to  arouse  patriotism;  but  his 
people  disagreed  with  him.  In  the  East  riots  and 
civil  war  broke  out.  These  were  suppressed,  but 
discontent  and  persistent  opposition  remained.  In 
Italy  also  the  excitement  was  intense.  The  coun- 
try had  already  been  irritated  by  severe  taxation, 
and  when  the  decree  of  iconoclasm  was  published, 
the  image-loving  Italians  rose  in  a  body.  The  Pope, 
U  mosi  hurt  in  conscience  by  the  decree,  and  in 
pocket   by    the  taxation,  was  the   natural   head    <>t' 


12  A    SHORT    HISTORY   OF  ITALY 

resistance.  The  Exarch  attempted  to  arrest  him, 
luit  both  Latins  and  Lombards  rallied  to  his  defence. 
In  BOme  places  open  revolt  broke  out,  and  a  plot 
was  started  to  set  up  another  Emperor  in  place 
of  the  wicked  iconoclast  who  polluted  the  Imperial 
throne.  But  the  Pope,  Gregory  II  (715-731),  was 
a  prudent  man,  and  was  not  ready  to  take  a  step 
which  would  deprive  Rome  of  its  single  defence 
from  the  Lombards.  He  opposed  the  rebellious 
plan,  but  int  the  matter  of  maintaining  the  images 
he  stood  like  a  rock.  His  successor,  Gregory  III 
i  7: 11-741),  went  farther,  and  took  decisive  action. 
He  convoked  a  synod,  which  expelled  every  image- 
breaker  from  the  Church  (731).  This  was  tanta- 
mount to  a  direct  excommunication  of  the  Emperor, 
and  a  declaration  of  papal  independence.  The  Em- 
peror was  powerless  to  compel  obedience.  Thus 
began  the  great  split  between  the  Papacy  and  the 
Byzantine  Empire,  between  western  and  eastern 
Europe,  between  the  Latin  Church  and  the  Greek. 
Some  of  the  western  provinces,  Calabria,  Sicily,  and 
Illyria,  which  were  practically  Greek,  remained  faith- 
ful to  the  Empire  and  shared  its  fortunes  for  several 
hundred  years  more.  Ecclesiastically  they  were  re- 
moved from  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Popes  to  that  of 
the  Patriarchs  of  Constantinople. 

This  breach  between  the  Papacy  and  the  Empire 
led  inevitably  to  an  alliance  between  the  Papacy  and 
the  Franks,  which  is  of  such  great  historical  conse- 
quence that  it  must  be  recounted  in  some  detail. 
"\\  bile  the  Empire  and  the  Papacy  were  quarrelling 
over  ecclesiastical  matters,  western  Europe  had  been 


THE  COMING  OF  THE  FRANKS    43 

changing.  The  Frankish  kingdom  had  been  estab- 
lished in  what  is  now  Belgium,  Holland,  and  large 
parts  of  France  and  Germany,  and  was  the  one  great 
Christian  power  in  Europe.  Therefore,  when  the  Pa- 
pacy had  cut  loose  from  the  Empire  and  saw  itself 
defenceless  against  the  Lombards,  it  had  no  alterna- 
tive but  to  seek  help  from  the  Franks.  There  were 
also  two  special  reasons  for  friendship  between  the 
Franks  and  the  Papacy.  First,  the  Franks,  alone  of 
Barbarians,  had  been  converted  to  Catholic  Christian- 
ity. Secondly,  in  their  endeavours  to  enlarge  their 
eastern  borders,  the  Franks  had  been  greatly  assisted 
by  the  missionaries,  who  —  in  the  normal  course, 
missionaries,  merchants,  soldiers  —  had  prepared 
the  way  for  Frankish  conquest,  and  had  strength- 
ened the  Frankish  power  when  established.  These 
missionaries  were  absolutely  devoted  to  the  Roman 
See ;  they  spread  papal  loyalty  wherever  they  went, 
and  wrought  a  strong  bond  of  union  between  the 
Frankish  kingdom  and  the  Papacy.  This  union  of 
sympathy  and  interest  was  an  excellent  basis  for  a 
political  union  ;  and  the  time  soon  came  for  such  a 
development. 

When  the  iconoclastic  revolts  occurred  in  Italy, 
and  the  Popes  broke  with  the  Empire,  the  Lombard 
kings  thought  that  their  opportunity  to  conquer  all 
Italy  had  come.  But  instead  of  making  one  bold 
campaign  against  Rome  and  the  South,  they  merely 
laid  hands  on  a  few  border  cities.  The  Popes  turned 
with  frantic  appeals  for  help  to  the  only  powei  thai 

could  help  them,  tin*  Franks.  Kvcry  time  the  Lom- 
bard king  made  a  hostile  move,  the  Pope  cried  aloud 


44    A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  ITALY 

for  aid.  For  some  time  the  Franks  deemed  that 
the  balance  of  political  considerations  was  against 
intervention  and  refused  to  take  part  in  Italian  affairs. 
Charles  Martel,  mayor  of  the  palace  and  ruler  of  the 
Franks  in  all  hut  name,  stood  firm  on  the  policy  of 
non-interference ;  but  his  son  and  successor,  Pippin 
the  Short,  took  a  different  view.  Pippin  judged  that 
the  time  had  come  to  depose  the  royal  Merovingian 
family  and  to  exalt  his  own,  the  Carlovingian,  in  its 
stead.  As  the  Merovingians  had  reigned  for  two 
hundred  and  fifty  years,  the  step  was  revolutionary, 
and  Pippin  washed  to  strengthen  his  position  by  the 
support  of  the  Papacy.  He  sent  messengers  to  the 
Pope,  Zacharias,  to  ask  advice ;  and  the  Pope,  ac- 
cording to  the  chronicler,  "in  the  exercise  of  his 
apostolical  authority  replied  to  their  question,  that 
it  seemed  to  him  better  and  more  expedient  that  the 
man  who  held  power  in  the  kingdom  should  be  called 
king  and  be  king,  rather  than  he  who  falsely  bore 
that  name.  Therefore  the  Pope  commanded  the  king 
and  the  people  of  the  Franks,  that  Pippin,  who  was 
using  royal  power,  should  be  called  king  and  should 
be  settled  on  the  throne."  The  last  Merovingian, 
therefore,  was  tonsured  and  stowed  away  in  a  mon- 
astery, and  Pippin  became  king  of  the  Franks  (751). 
Without  accepting  the  monkish  chronicler's  state- 
ment, that  the  Pope  commanded  Pippin  to  be  king, 
there  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  papal  sanction  was 
of  very  real  value  to  Pippin,  and  that  Pippin  let  it 
appear  that  he  was  acting  rather  in  conformity  with 
the  Pope's  will  than  with  his  own. 

Thus  the  Pope  laid  Pippin  under  a  great  obliga- 


THE  COMING  OF  THE  FRANKS    45 

tion  ;  it  now  remained  for  Pippin  to  discharge  that 
obligation.    It  was  not  long;  before  the  time  came. 

The  Lombard  king  felt  that  his  opportunity  was 
slipping-  by.  and  acted  with  some  vigour.  He  captured 
Ravenna  and  threatened  Rome.  The  Pope  hurried 
across  the  Alps.  He  anointed  and  crowned  Pippin  ; 
he  likewise  anointed  arid  blessed  his  son  Charles 
(Charlemagne),  and  forbade  the  Franks  under  pain 
of  excommunication  ever  to  choose  their  king  from 
any  other  family.  These  three  great  favours,  the 
transfer  of  the  royal  title,  the  coronation  rite,  and 
the  perpetual  confirmation  of  the  Carlovingian  sov- 
ereignty, called  for  a  great  return.  Pippin  promised 
that  the  Adriatic  provinces,  taken  by  the  Lombards 
from  the  Byzantines,  should  be  ceded  by  the  Lom- 
bards to  the  Pope.  This  promise  Pippin  fulfilled. 
He  crossed  the  Alps,  defeated  the  Lombard  king,  and 
forced  him  to  cede  the  Exarchate  of  Ravenna  and 
the  five  cities  below  it  on  the  coast,  to  the  Pope,  who 
thereby  became  an  actual  sovereign.  Thus  Pippin 
discharged  his  obligation  to  the  Papacy. 

This  beginning  of  the  Papal  monarchy  is  so 
important  that  the  theoretic  origin  may  as  well  be 
mentioned  here.  There  was  a  legend,  universally 
believed,  that  an  early  Pope,  Silvester  (314-335) 
healed  the  Emperor  Constantine  of  leprosy,  and  that 
the  Emperor,  in  gratitude,  made  a  great  grant  of 
territory  to  the  Pope.  The  fact  appears  to  have 
been  that  Constantine,  although  not  cured  of  the 
leprosy, did  L;iv<-  to  Silvester  the  Lateral)  palace  ami 
a  plot  of  ground  around  it.  This  little  donation 
grew  in   legend  like  a  grain  of  mustard  seed,  ami 


46    A  SHOET  HISTORY  OF  ITALY 

served  the  purpose  of  the  Roman  clergy.  No  good 
Roman  would  have  been  content  with  a  title  derived 
from  the  Lombards  or  the  Franks.  In  Roman  eyes 
these  Barbarians  never  had  any  title  to  Italian  ter- 
ritory ;  they  could  give  none.  The  only  possible 
source  of  legal  title  was  the  Empire.  In  the  gift  by 
Constantine  to  Silvester  papal  adherents  had  a  foun- 
dation of  fact.  That  was  enough.  It  is  quite  un- 
necessary to  imagine  false  dealing.  People  in  those 
days  believed  that  what  they  wished  true  was  true. 
This  legend  was  accepted  and  embodied  in  concrete 
form  in  a  document  known  as  the  Donation  of 
Constantine,  which  is  so  important  in  explaining 
the  attitude  of  the  Papacy  throughout  the  Middle 
Ages,  that  it  may  be  quoted :  — 

"  In  the  name  of  the  holy  and  undivided  Trinity, 
Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  the  Emperor  Caesar 
Flavius  Constantine  ...  to  the  most  holy  and 
blessed  Father  of  Fathers,  Silvester,  bishop  of  Rome 
and  Pope,  and  to  all  his  successors  in  the  seat  of 
St.  Peter  to  the  end  of  the  world.  .  .  ."  Here  comes, 
interspersed  with  snatches  of  Christian  dogma,  a 
rambling  narrative  of  his  leprosy,  of  the  advice  of 
his  physicians  to  bathe  in  a  font  on  the  Capitol  filled 
with  the  warm  blood  of  babies  ;  how  he  refused,  how 
Peter  and  Paul  appeared  in  a  dream  and  sent  him 
to  Silvester,  how  he  then  abjured  paganism,  accepted 
the  creed,  was  baptized  and  healed,  and  how  he  then 
recognized  that  heathen  gods  were  demons  and  that 
Peter  and  his  successors  had  all  power  on  earth  and 
in  heaven.  After  this  long  preamble  comes  the  grant : 

"  We,  together  with  all  our  Satraps  and  the  whole 


THE  COMING  OF  THE  FRANKS    47 

Senate,  Nobles  and  People  .  .  .  have  thought  it 
desirable  that  even  as  St.  Peter  is  on  earth  the 
appointed  Vicar  of  God,  so  also  the  Pontiffs  his 
viceregents  should  receive  from  us  and  from  our 
Empire,  power  and  principality  greater  than  belongs 
to  us  .  .  .  and  to  the  extent  of  our  earthly  Impe- 
rial power  we  decree  that  the  Sacrosanct  Church 
of  Rome  shall  be  honoured  and  venerated,  and  that 
higher  than  our  terrestrial  throne  shall  the  most 
sacred  seat  of  St.  Peter  be  gloriously  exalted. 

"  Let  him  who  for  the  time  shall  be  pontiff  over 
the  holy  Church  of  Rome  ...  be  sovereign  of  all 
the  priests  in  the  whole  world ;  and  by  his  judgment 
let  all  things  which  pertain  to  the  worship  of  God  or 
the  faith  of  Christians  be  regulated.  .  .  .  We  hand 
over  and  relinquish  our  palace,  the  city  of  Borne, 
i, ml  nil  the  provinces,  places,  and  cities  of  Italy 
awl  the  icestem  regions,  to  the  most  blessed  Pon- 
tiffand  universal  Pope,  Silvester  ;  and  we  ordain  by 
our  pragmatic  constitution  that  they  shall  be  gov- 
erned by  him  and  his  successors,  and  we  grant  that 
they  shall  remain  under  the  authority  of  the  holy 
Roman  Church."1 

The  -date  of  this  document  and  many  statements 
in  it  an*  anachronisms  and  errors.  It  was  composed 
about  the  time  of  Pippin's  Donation,  probably  by 
somebody  connected  with  the  papal  ehancery,  and 
may  be  considered  to  be  a  pious  forgery  represent- 
ing  tli*-  facts  as  the  writer  deemed  they  were  or  else 

1  Italy  and  her  Invaders,  T.   Rodgkin,  vol.  vii,  pp,  l  r.»  151  ;  Se- 
•  //   torietd  Jjormn-  WiddU  Ages,  Erneel  K.   Henderson, 

pp.  319  329. 


4s     A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  ITALY 

should  be.  It  was  officially  referred  to  for  the  first 
time  in  777,  but  did  not  receive  its  full  celebrity 
until  the  eleventh  century,  when  the  relations  of  the 
Papacy  and  the  Holy  Roman  Empire  became  the 
centre  of  European  history. 


CHAPTER  VI 

CHARLEMAGNE  (768-814) 

The  papal  theory  embodied  in  the  Donation  of 
Gonstantine  was  obviously  crammed  with  seeds  of 
future  strife ;  for  the  present,  however,  the  fortuues 
of  the  House  of  Pippin  and  of  the  Papacy  were 
bound  together  in  amity.  The  constant  accession 
of  strength  to  the  former  and  of  prestige  to  the 
latter  made  them  the  central  figures  of  European 
politics.  The  new  political  form  to  which  their 
union  gave  birth  slowly  shaped  itself.  In  Italy  the 
first  step  was  to  get  rid  of  the  Lombards.  On  the 
death  of  the  Lombard  King,  Aistulf,  there  were 
two  claimants  for  the  throne.  One  of  the  two,  De- 
siderius,  secured  the  Pope's  help  by  the  promise  of 
ceding  more  cities,  and  became  king.  The  Pope, 
writing  to  Pippin,  says:  "Now  that  Aistulf,  that 
disciple  of  the  devil,  that  devourer  of  Christian 
blood  is  dead  ;  and  that  by  your  aid  and  that  of  the 
Franks  [a  complimentary  phrase,  for  Pippin  seems 
to  have  done  nothing]  he  is  succeeded  by  Desiderius, 
a  most  gentle  and  good  man,  we  pray  you  to  urge 
him  to  continue  in  the  right  way."  But  the  "most 
gentle  and  good"  Desiderius  Btrayed  from  the  right 
Way,  and  <  1  i <  1  not  cede  the  promised  cities.  So  the 
Pope  besought  Pippin  to  use  force  ;  but  Pippin 
thought   that   lie   had   done  enough,  and   the    Tope 


50  A    SHOET    HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

was  obliged  to  rest  content.  Pippin  died  in  768. 
One  can  imagine  the  consternation  at  Rome  on 
Pippin's  death  to  learn  that  the  dowager  queen  of 
the  Franks  was  arranging-  a  marriage  between  her 
son  Charlemagne  and  a  daughter  of  Desiderius,  and 
another  marriage  between  her  daughter  and  a  son  of 
Desiderius.  The  Pope  wrote  in  terror  that  the  plan 
was  of  the  devil,  and  forbade  it  under  the  pains 
of  everlasting  damnation  ;  nevertheless,  Charlemagne 
married  the  daughter  of  Desiderius  (770). 

The  Pope's  anticipations,  however,  were  not  justi- 
fied ;  the  horrible  union  of  the  House  of  Pippin  with 
the  "  unspeakable  "  Lombards  came  to  an  abrupt  end. 
Charlemagne,  probably  from  personal  dislike,  put 
away  his  wife,  and  sent  her  ignominiously  back  to 
her  father.  Desiderius,  angry  at  the  insult,  rushed 
upon  his  fate ;  he  not  only  intrigued  in  Frankish 
affairs  against  Charlemagne,  but  he  also  seized  many 
of  the  cities  given  to  the  Pope  by  the  Donation  of 
Pippin.  He  invaded  the  duchy  of  Rome,  and  ad- 
vanced within  fifty  miles  of  the  city.  This  time 
Charlemagne  acted  in  conformity  with  the  papal 
entreaties.  He  crossed  the  Alps,  routed  the  Lombard 
armv,  captured  Pavia,  took  Desiderius  prisoner  and 
assumed  the  title  of  King  of  the  Lombards  (773-774) . 
He  went  on  to  Rome,  and  solemnly  confirmed  the 
Donation  of  Pippin,  and  also  made  a  further  Dona- 
tion. This  latter  Donation,  which  led  to  disputes 
between  the  Papacy  and  Charlemagne's  successors, 
is  a  matter  of  great  uncertainty.  Subsequent  papal 
advocates  claimed  that  it  embraced  two  thirds  of 
Italy.    Probably  Charlemagne  only  intended  to  re- 


CHARLEMAGNE  51 

store  to  the  Papacy  its  private  property  scattered 
throughout  northern  and  central  Italy,  which  had 
been  seized  by  the  Lombards. 

Charlemagne,  having  disposed  of  the  Lombards, 
continued  his  conquests ;  across  the  Pyrenees  he 
annexed  the  Spanish  March,  in  North  Germany  he 
subdued  the  Saxons  and  pushed  his  frontier  to  the 
Elbe,  to  the  southeast  he  subjugated  the  country  as 
far  as  the  upper  Danube.  His  monarchy  now  included 
Franks,  Celts,  Visigoths,  Burgundians,  Saxons,  Lom- 
bards, Romans.  How  were  such  widespread  terri- 
tories and  such  diverse  peoples  to  be  united  in 
permanent  union  ?  The  far-seeing  Papacy,  in  answer 
to  this  question,  propounded  the  revival  of  the  Roman 
Empire  of  the  CaBsars.  Reasons  were  numerous.  The 
Frankish  monarchy,  with  its  conquests,  in  bulk  at 
least  was  not  unworthy  to  succeed  to  Imperial  Rome. 
Throughout  this  wide  territory  there  was  a  great  net- 
work of  ligaments ;  from  Gascony  to  Bavaria,  from 
Lombardy  to  Frisia,  divine  service  was  celebrated  in 
the  Latin  tongue  and  with  the  Roman  ritual ;  bishops, 
priests,  monks,  and  missionaries  acknowledged  their 
dependence  upon  the  Pope  and  looked  to  Rome,  with 
its  holy  basilicas  and  apostolic  tradition,  as  the  centre 
of  Christendom.  This  Christian  unity  was  a  constant 
argument  for  political  unity.  A  second  argument 
was  tlir  stall  vigorous  Roman  tradition.  The  idea  of 
nationality  was  as  vei  undeveloped ;  Europe  had 
known  no  other  political  system  than  common  sub- 
jection to  the  Roman  Empire,  and  all  notions  of 
civilization  were  of  a  civilization  on  the  Roman 
pattern.    When  the  Roman  Empire  in  the  Wesl  had 


52  A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

decayed,  the  Church  had  adopted  the  Imperial  organ- 
ization and  kept  remembrance  of  the  old  system  fresh 
in  men's  minds.  The  old  Empire,  moreover,  had 
early  lost  the  notion  of  dependence  on  the  city  of 
Koine,  for  the  seat  of  government  had  been  set  at 
Constantinople,  at  Milan,  and  at  Ravenna  ;  and  since 
the  days  of  the  early  Caesars,  it  had  not  been  neces- 
sary for  an  Emperor  to  be  a  native  Roman.  There 
was  no  theoretical  difficulty  to  bar  a  Frank  from  the 
Imperial  throne  or  forbid  the  seat  of  government  to 
a  Frankish  city.  In  fact,  nobody  could  conceive  of 
the  Empire  as  other  than  Roman,  and  the  Frankish 
kingdom  could  only  become  an  empire  by  becoming 
the  Roman  Empire. 

The  Papacy  had  special  reasons  for  these  views. 
Under  the  Empire  Christianity  had  grown  up;  under 
the  Empire  it  had  obtained  power  and  dominion, 
and  had  become  the  state  religion.  The  Church 
might  quarrel  with  Emperors,  but  it  regarded  the 
Empire  —  the  source  of  secular  law  and  order  —  as 
its  joint  tenant  in  the  world.  The  one  represented 
religious  unity,  the  other  represented  civil  unity. 
In  addition  to  these  large  arguments,  local  reasons 
affected  the  Papacy.  Shortly  before  the  expulsion  of 
the  Lombards  from  Italy,  the  lack  of  a  strong  govern- 
ment had  been  wofully  felt.  One  usurper  and  then 
another  had  been  put  in  St.  Peter's  chair  in  riot  and 
bloodshed.  It  had  become  plain  as  day  that  the 
Papacy  of  itself,  without  the  support  of  a  potent 
secular  power,  was  not  able  to  maintain  its  dignity, 
nor  even  to  enforce  order  in  the  very  city  of  Rome. 
The  Papacy  could  not  endure  without  the  Empire. 


CHARLEMAGNE  53 

The  very  titles  which  the  Frankisk  kings  had  gradu- 
ally received  led  up  to  the  Imperial  title.  Gregory  II 
had  called  Charles  Martel  "Patrician,"  a  vague  title 
of  honour  held  by  the  Exarchs ;  Gregory  III  had 
offered  to  him  the  titles  both  of  Patrician  and  of 
Consul ;  Stephen  II  bestowed  upon  Pippin  the  title 
of  Patrician  of  the  Romans ;  Charlemagne's  own 
titles  were  King  of  the  Franks,  King  of  the  Lom- 
bards, Patrician  of  the  Romans ;  and  his  son  had 
been  crowned  by  the  Pope,  King  of  Italy  (781). 
The  title  next  in  order  was  undoubtedly  Emperor 
of  the  Romans.  Charlemagne  himself  was  a  man  of 
gigantic  stature  and  great  strength,  indefatigable 
in  action,  and  delighting  in  hunting,  swimming,  and 
martial  exercise.  His  mind  also  was  mighty,  rest- 
lessly pondering  questions  of  state,  of  church,  of 
war,  of  social  improvement.  He  was  the  greatest 
of  Barbarians,  cast  by  Nature  in  an  imperial  mould. 
On  the  other  hand  there  was  one  conspicuous  diffi- 
culty in  the  way  of  reviving  the  Roman  Empire  ;  this 
difficulty  was  that  the  Roman  Empire  still  existed, 
and  that  there  was  a  living  Emperor,  the  legitimate  suc- 
cessor of  Caesar  Augustus.  But  that  Empire  was  vir- 
tually Greek,  and  the  Emperor  no  more  like  Caesar 
Augustus  than  like  Hercules.  The  city  by  the  Tiber 
had  as  good  title  fco  l»e  the  Imperial  city  as  her  younger 
rival  by  the  Bosphorus  j  the  Roman  Republic  (what- 
ever that  ill-defined  title  may  mean),  represented  by 
the  Pope,  had  as  fair  a  claim  to  elecl  the  Emperor,  as 
the  army  and  office-holders  at  Constantinople.  In 
i.n't,  to  Papal  and  Roman  eyes,  the  rights  of  Rome 
were  much  greater  than  tho.se  of  Constantinople. 


54     A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  ITALY 

To  us,  as  we  look  back,  nothing  seems  more  natural 
than  that  the  great  Frankish  king,  after  the  conquest 
of  Italy,  should  have  brushed  aside  the  theoretical  dif- 
ficulty of  an  existing  Roman  Empire  and  assumed 
the  Imperial  title,  Emperor  of  the  Romans.  History 
moves  more  slowly.  Charlemagne  was  a  Frank,  ac- 
customed to  Frankish  usages  and  ideas  ;  he  hesitated 
to  adopt  formally  a  wholly  different  conception  of 
sovereignty  and  society.  His  nobles  probably  agreed 
with  the  advice  given  by  Pope  Zacharias  to  Pippin, 
that  the  man  who  held  the  power  should  receive  the 
corresponding  title,  but  being  Franks  they  thought 
the  dignity  of  Frankish  king  sufficient.  So  matters 
stood  with  nothing  between  Charlemagne  and  the 
Imperial  crown  but  a  theoretic  difficulty,  and  a  cer- 
tain reluctance.  Unexpectedly  and  in  quick  succes- 
sion, events  in  Constantinople  swept  away  the  theo- 
retic difficulty,  and  events  in  Rome  gave  the  Pope 
sufficient  energy  to  overcome  the  reluctance. 

At  Constantinople,  the  dowager  Empress  blinded 
and  deposed  her  son  the  Emperor  (797),  and  assumed 
to  rule  as  sole  Augusta.  This  wickedness,  and  the 
ancient  doctrine  that,  though  a  woman  might  lawfully 
share  the  Imperial  throne,  she  might  not  reign  alone, 
combined  to  render  plausible  a  theory  readily  adopted 
in  the  West,  that  the  Imperial  throne  had  become 
vacant.  The  event  in  Rome  was  this.  A  savage  gang 
of  nobles  and  ecclesiasts  attacked  Pope  Leo  III  in 
the  street,  beat  him,  half-blinded  him,  cut  his  tongue, 
and  imprisoned  him  in  a  monastery  (799).  He  es- 
caped and  fled  to  Charlemagne  in  Germany.  His 
enemies    followed   and    charged    him    with    various 


CHARLEMAGNE  55 

crimes.  Charlemagne  sent  him  back  to  Rome  in  the 
company  of  some  great  nobles,  who  were  commis- 
sioned to  investigate  the  charges,  and  went  himself 
also.  There,  in  St.  Peter's  basilica,  in  the  presence 
of  Frankish  nobles  and  Roman  ecclesiasts,  with 
Charlemagne  presiding,  the  Pope  took  a  solemn  oath 
of  innocence  (December  4,  800).  Such  an  oath  ac- 
cording to  the  jurisprudence  of  the  time  was  neces- 
sarily followed  by  acquittal ;  and  the  Pope's  inno- 
cence necessarily  proved  the  guilt  of  his  accusers,  who 
were  punished. 

Such  crimes,  east  and  west,  were  insufferable. 
Something  had  to  be  done.  Everybody  looked  to 
Charlemagne.  His  position  as  head  of  Christen- 
dom was  acknowledged  even  beyond  the  bounds  of 
western  Europe.  The  Patriarch  of  Jerusalem,  a 
subject  of  the  Caliph  Haroun  al  Raschid,  sent  to 
Charlemagne  the  keys  of  Calvary  and  of  the  Holy 
Sepulchre  and  the  banner  of  the  Holy  City.  Obvi- 
ously it  was  time  for  the  Imperial  dignity  to  be  added 
to  Imperial  power. 

On  Christinas  day  in  the  year  800,  Charlemagne 
and  a  great  procession  of  Frankish  nobles  and  Roman 
citizens  made  their  way  through  the  streets  of  Rome 
towards  the  basilica  of  St.  Peter's,  whose  gilt  bronze, 
roof,  taken  from  a  pagan  temple,  shone  conspicuous 
on  tlit-  Vatican  lull.  They  walked  through  the  Aure- 
lian  gate  ami  across  the  bridge  over  the  Tiber,  then 

turning  to  the  left,  followed  the  colonnade  which 
extended    all   the    way    from    Hadrian's    .Mausoleum 

to  tin;  atrium  of  the  basilica.   There  they  mounted 

the  broad  flight  of  marble  steps,  at   the  top  of  which 


56  A   SHORT   HISTORY  OF  ITALY 

the  Pope  and  his  court  awaited  the  king.  Then  Pope 
and  king,  followed  by  the  procession,  crossed  the 
great  atrium  paved  with  white  marble,  past  the  fir- 
cone fountain  and  papal  tombs,  to  the  central  door 
of  the  basilica,  which  swung  its  thousand-weight  of 
silver  open  wide  ;  then,  up  the  long  nave,  screened 
by  rows  of  antique  columns  from  double  aisles  on 
either  side,  all  rich  with  tapestries  of  purple  and  gold, 
they  proceeded  with  slow  and  solemn  steps  to  the 
tomb  of  the  apostle.  Thirteen  hundred  and  sev- 
enty candles  in  the  great  candelabrum  glowed  on 
the  silver  floor  of  the  shrine,  and  glittered  on  the 
gold  and  silver  statues  around  it.  In  the  great  apse 
behind  the  high  altar  sat  the  clergy,  row  upon  row, 
beneath  the  Pontiff's  throne ;  above,  the  Byzantine 
mosaics  looked  down  in  sad  severity.  Here  Charle- 
magne knelt  at  the  tomb,  and  prayed.  As  he  rose 
from  his  knees,  the  Pope  lifted  an  Imperial  crown 
of  gold  and  placed  it  on  his  head,  while  all  the 
congregation  shouted,  "  Life  and  Victory  to  Charles, 
Augustus,  crowned  by  God,  the  great  and  peaceful 
Emperor !  " 

Thus  was  accomplished  that  restoration  of  the 
Roman  Empire,  which  by  its  attempt  to  combine  Teu- 
ton and  Roman  in  political  union  so  powerfully 
affected  the  history  of  mediaeval  Europe.  Charle- 
magne is  reported  to  have  said  that  the  Imperial 
coronation  took  him  by  surprise.  However  that  may 
be,  this  great  enterprise  of  a  Christian  Empire  must 
be  regarded,  in  its  final  completion,  as  the  joint  work 
of  Frankish  king  and  Roman  Pope. 


CHAPTER  VII 

FROM  CHARLEMAGNE  TO  NICHOLAS  I   (814-867) 

The  period  from  the  death  of  Charlemagne  (814) 
to  the  coronation  of  Otto  the  Great  (962)  is  a  long 
dismal  stretch,  tenanted  by  discord  and  ignorance. 
At  the  beginning  stands  the  commanding  figure  of 
Charlemagne, 

With  Atlantean  shoulders,  fit  to  bear 
The  weight  of  mightiest  monarchies. 

But  his  descendants  were  unequal  to  their  inherit- 
ance, and  under  them  his  Empire  crumbled  away 
and  resolved  itself  into  incipient  nations.  That  Em- 
pire, in  theory  the  restored  Roman  Empire,  was  in 
fact  strictly  Teutonic,  though  buttressed  by  the  Ro- 
man Church.  Charlemagne  deemed  himself  head  of 
both  Empire  and  Church.  In  his  eyes  the  Pope  was 
his  subject,  and  he  legislated,  as  a  matter  of  course, 
upon  ecclesiastical  affairs.  In  secular  matters  he  en- 
deavoured to  maintain  local  administration  without 
detriment  to  a  strong  central  government.  For  this 
purpose  he  divided  the  Empire  into  three  divisions,  of 
which  he  made  his  three  sons  nominally  kings,  really 
his  lieutenants.  I  Inder these  sons  he  appointed  counts 
and  bishops,  as  local  governors.  Be  maintained  his 
centra]  authority  by  means  of  deputies  (missi  do- 
minici),  who  traversed  the  whole  Empire,  two  by 
two,  a  bishop  and  a  count  together.    The  mainte- 


58    A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  ITALY 

nance  of  such  a  political  unity,  however,  required 
either  the  organic  strength  and  momentum  of  the 
old  Roman  Empire,  or  a  breed  of  Charlemagnes.  On 

the  great  Emperor's  death  the  forces  of  disruption 
made  themselves  felt  at  once.  His  son,  Louis  the 
Pious,  indeed  succeeded  to  the  whole  sovereignty 
of  the  Empire;  but  Louis's  sons  demanded  division. 
They  rebelled ;  and  civil  war  lasted  most  of  Louis's 
life.  After  his  death  the  sons  fought  one  another, 
and  finally  agreed  on  a  division  of  the  territory, 
though  the  Imperial  title  was  kept.  One  brother 
took  the  territory  to  the  east,  destined  to  become 
Germany  ;  another,  that  to  the  west,  destined  to 
become  France ;  and  Lothair,  the  eldest,  who  also 
received  the  Imperial  title,  took  Italy  and  a  long 
heterogeneous  strip  between  the  territories  of  his 
brothers.  This  division  was  fatal  to  the  Empire. 
On  Lothair's  death  the  Imperial  crown  descended 
to  his  son  Louis  II  (855-875),  and  afterwards  to  two 
other  degenerate  members  of  a  degenerate  family. 
The  last  made  himself  unendurable  and  was  deposed 
(887).  With  him  ended  Charlemagne's  legitimate 
male  line,  and  also  the  first  revival  of  the  Roman 
Empire. 

This  Empire  had  been  a  civilizing  power.  It  had 
supported  the  Papacy,  as  an  oak  supports  the  creeper 
that  clings  to  it ;  and  in  its  decline  and  fall  it  pulled 
the  Papacy  down  with  it.  Without  such  support  the 
Papacy  could  maintain  neither  dignity  abroad  nor 
order  at  home.  This  lesson  the  Church  learned 
once  through  the  outrages  inflicted  upon  Pope  Leo, 
but  forgot  it ;  and   required   the  experience   of  a 


FROM   CHARLEMAGNE   TO   NICHOLAS     59 

hundred  and  fifty  years  to  learn  it  a  second  time. 
In  theory  Papacy  and  Empire  were  co-equal  powers, 
religious  and  secular,  together  carrying  on  the  noble 
task  of  God's  government  on  earth.  In  practice,  as 
their  respective  rights  and  powers  had  not  been  defi- 
nitely set  off,  they  could  not  agree;  each  wished  to 
be  master.  The  relations  between  the  two  constitute 
the  great  axis  on  which  mediaeval  politics  revolve, 
and  for  a  long  time  must  serve  as  the  main  motive 
of  our  story.  The  contest  between  them  for  mastery 
resembles  a  fencing  match,  in  which  the  Pope  thrusts 
at  the  Emperor's  crown,  the  Emperor  parries,  and 
lunges  back  at  the  papal  tiara.  For  convenience  we 
divide  the  match  into  two  bouts,  and  first  take  the 
Pope's  attack. 

At  the  famous  coronation  on  Christmas  day,  800, 
Charlemagne  and  Leo  stood  side  by  side,  co-labour- 
ers in  the  great  task  of  reconstructing  Europe.  But 
once  the  coronation  over,  the  two  undefined  author- 
ities jostled  each  other.  Charlemagne,  to  whom  gov- 
ernment was  as  much  a  religious  as  a  secular  mat- 
ter, though  he  had  accepted  his  Imperial  crown  at 
the  bands  of  the  Pope,  did  not  regard  papal  partici- 
pation accessary  for  the  continuance  of  the  Imperial 
dignity.  At  Aachen,  813,  he  crowned  his  son  Louis 
the  Pious  co-Emperor,  without  the  help  of  Pope  or 
priest.  This  thrust  must  have  carried  discomfiture 
to  the  banks  «»i  the  Tiber.  But  with  Charlemagne's 
weak  successors  the  astute  Papacy  scored  hit  after 
hit.  Louis  the  Pious  submitted  to  lit-  recrowned  by 
the  Pope,  bo  did  his  Bon,  Lothair,  and  his  grandson 
Louis  11  ;  and  their  two  successors  wvw  also  now oed 


60    A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  ITALY 

by  the  Pope.  This  sequence  of  palpable  hits  won 
this  bout  and  secured  for  the  Papacy  beyond  dis- 
pute the  prerogative  of  crowning  the  Emperors. 

If  we  now  turn  to  that  part  of  the  game  where 
Emperor  lunged  and  Pope  parried,  we  find  a  more 
complicated  situation.  A  third  player  takes  a  hand, 
to  the  confusion  of  the  game  and  to  the  great  detri- 
ment of  the  papal  defence.  This  third  player  is  the 
Roman  people,  who  believed  that  the  Senatus  Popu- 
1  usque  llomanns  still  possessed  their  ancient  pre- 
rogatives, and  had  the  right  to  appoint  both  Emperor 
and  Pope.  Their  claim  to  elect  the  Emperor  was 
flimsy  enough,  being  merely  the  memory  of  an  empty 
form,  and  is  not  of  enough  consequence  to  stop  for ; 
but  their  claim  to  interfere  in  the  papal  election  was 
of  the  highest  importance.  It  arose  from  the  anom- 
alous nature  of  the  Papacy.  The  Pope  was  bishop 
of  Rome,  and  as  such  his  election  lay  in  the  hands 
of  the  clergy  and  people  of  Rome  ;  he  was  also  the 
ruler  of  central  Italy,  and  as  such  the  barons  there 
were  interested  in  his  election  ;  and,  in  addition, 
he  was  head  of  all  the  Christian  Churches  in  the 
West,  and  so  all  western  Christendom,  and  the  Em- 
peror as  its  temporal  lord,  was  likewise  concerned. 
The  fact  was  that  no  definite  method  of  papal  elec- 
tion and  confirmation  had  been  settled  upon  during 
these  disturbed  centuries.  The  original  practice  had 
been  for  the  Roman  churches,  priests,  and  laymen 
together  assembled,  to  make  the  election  ;  subse- 
quently the  senate,  or  the  army,  or  the  nobles,  had 
represented  the  lay  body  of  electors  ;  but  whoever 
represented  the  laymen,  they  and  the  clergy  made 


FROM   CHARLEMAGNE   TO   NICHOLAS    61 

the  election ;  which  was  then  submitted  to  the  Em- 
peror, or  his  representative,  for  scrutiny  and  confirma- 
tion. The  submission  of  the  Roman  election  to  the 
examination  of  a  Byzantine  Emperor  had  never  been 
acceptable  in  Rome,  and  after  the  breach  over  icon- 
oclasm,  the  practice  ceased.  Naturally,  on  the  re- 
vival of  the  Roman  Empire  in  the  West,  the  new 
Emperors  claimed  the  old  Imperial  right  of  super- 
vision ;  naturally,  also,  the  papal  party  resisted  the 
fresh  exercise  of  the  old  prerogative.  Here  was  a 
situation  for  a  scrimmage,  but  any  clear  account  of 
the  papal  elections  in  Rome,  supposing  such  were 
possible,  would  be  too  minute ;  this  narrative  must 
confine  itself  to  the  main  passes  between  the  papal 
party  and  the  Emperors. 

After  the  death  of  Charlemagne  (no  papal  elec- 
tion occurred  during  his  lifetime)  several  Popes  were 
elected  and  consecrated  without  previously  consulting 
the  Emperor.  On  the  other  hand,  in  the  next  reign 
the  Imperial  deputy  made  the  Romans  take  oath 
that  no  Pope  should  be  consecrated  without  the  ap- 
proval of  the  Emperor.  What  was  done  at  the  fol- 
lowing election  is  not  known,  but  at  the  second 
the  Pope  was  Dot  consecrated  until  the  Emperor  had 
ratified  the  proceedings.  Thereafter  the  Imperial 
right  was  acknowledged  in  theory,  though  in  practice 
the  elected  Pontiles  did  not  always  wait  for  Imperial 
confirmation. 

With   the    Call  of   the  Carlovingian   Empire  the 

fencing  match  ceased  l'<»r  lack  of  an  Imperial  Con- 
testant.    The  SCOre  Stood  thus :    each   had    succeeded 

in  the  attack,  the  Papacy  bad  won  its  right  to  bestow 


62  A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

the  Imperial  crown,  and  the  Empire  had  won,  though 
not  so  definitely,  its  right  to  supervise  the  election 
of  a  Pope.  We  must  now  pass  to  this  Imperial  in- 
terregnum knowing-  that  when  the  Empire  shall  be 
revived,  the  match  will  begin  anew,  and  the  combat- 
ants, with  foils  unbated  and  envenomed,  will  tight  to 
a  finish. 

The  Imperial  interregnum,  nominally  interrupted 
by  one  German  and  several  Italian  make-believe 
Emperors,  lasted  for  three  generations  ;  no  Imperial 
power  was  exercised  from  875  to  962.  It  is  a  murky 
period  in  which  shadows  wander  about ;  but  before 
taking  our  candle  and  descending  into  the  gloom,  we 
will  turn  to  the  one  bright  spot,  the  career  of  a 
great  Pope,  Nicholas  I  (858-867). 

This  Pope,  in  spite  of  the  decadence  of  the  Pa- 
pacy, won  immense  prestige  for  it  by  two  successful 
assertions  of  cosmopolitan  authority.  The  King  of 
Lorraine,  brother  to  Louis  II,  the  Emperor,  wished 
to  put  away  his  wife  and  marry  another  woman. 
The  innocent  queen,  with  the  sanction  of  the  clergy 
of  the  kingdom,  was  divorced  and  forced  to  enter  a 
convent ;  and,  with  the  consent  of  his  clergy,  the 
king  married  the  other  woman.  The  wronged  queen 
appealed  to  the  Pope,  who  sent  his  legates  to  in* 
vestigate  the  affair  ;  but  the  king  bribed  the  legates 
and  succeeded  in  getting  a  decision  from  the  local 
synod  in  his  favour,  although,  in  fact,  the  whole 
matter  had  been  a  shocking  scandal.  Thereupon 
the  king  sent  the  archbishops  of  Cologne  and  of 
Trier,  the  two  great  ecclesiastical  dignitaries  of 
the  kingdom,  to  announce  this  verdict  of  acquittal. 


FROM   CHARLEMAGNE   TO   NICHOLAS    63 

The  Pope,  "  professing,"  as  his  enemies  said,  "  to  be 
imperator  of  the  whole  world,"  seized  his  opportu- 
nity ;  he  espoused  the  cause  of  the  innocent  queen, 
annulled  the  fraudulent  proceedings,  and  excommu- 
nicated and  deposed  the  two  archbishops.  The  king 
applied  to  the  Emperor  for  help,  and  the  Emperor 
went  to  Rome,  but  could  obtain  no  concession.  The 
Pope  stood  like  a  rock.  He  allied  himself  with  France 
and  Germany,  and  threatened  to  excommunicate  the 
sinning  husband  and  all  his  bishops.  The  king  was 
obliged  to  submit.  The  usurping  wife  was  excom- 
municated and  banished,  and  the  papal  legate  con- 
ducted the  divorced  queen  back  to  the  royal  palace. 
Thus  the  Papacy  not  only  established  a  great  pre- 
cedent for  the  supremacy  of  the  spiritual  over  the 
temporal  power,  but  also  stood  conspicuous  before 
the  world  as  the  champion  of  the  weak  and  oppressed 
and  the  defender  of  morality  and  justice. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  overrate  the  effect  of  this 
papal  achievement.  It  may  be  that  the  Papacy  stood 
forth  as  champion  of  innocence  when  policy  coin- 
cided with  righteousness ;  but  it  was  the  righteous- 
0688  and  not  the  policy  which  gave  the  Papacy 
strength.  One  can  imagine,  in  days  when  brutal 
barons,  scattered  in  strongholds  all  over  the  country, 
were  the  normal  forms  of  power  and  authority,  what 
effect  such  news  had  upon  the  people.  A  pilgrim 
from  across  the  Alps,  a  peddler,  or  some  poor  va- 
grant, enters  a  village  hnddled  at  the  fool  of  a  hill, 
on  which  stands  a  great  castle  where  a  drunken  lord 
revels  with  his  mistresses,  and  recounts  to  the  as- 
sembled  peasant-,   serf's,  and   slaves,   how   the    Holy 


G4  A   SHORT  HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

Father,  in  the  name  of  God,  had  commanded  a 
greater  lord,  in  a  greater  castle,  to  put  away  his 
mistress  and  bring-  back  his  wife,  and  how  that  lord 
had  got  down  on  his  knees  and  had  done  the  Holy 
Father's  bidding. 

The  second  case  was  the  victory  of  papal  author- 
ity over  the  spirit  of  nationality  in  the  Church. 
When  the  incipient  nations  of  France  and  Germany, 
having  separated  from  the  Empire,  had  begun  to 
be  self-conscious,  the  spirit  of  nationality  naturally 
showed  itself  in  ecclesiastical  matters  as  well  as  in 
political  matters.  There  was  obvious  likelihood  that 
the  nations  would  govern  themselves  ecclesiastically 
as  well  as  politically.  Should  they  do  so,  the  papal 
supremacy  would  fall  just  as  the  Imperial  supremacy 
had  fallen,  and  the  unity  of  the  Church  would  be 
shattered  just  as  the  Empire  had  been.  Here  was 
certainly  a  great  danger  to  the  Papacy,  and  prob- 
ably a  great  danger  to  Christianity  and  civilization  ; 
at  least  so  Nicholas  thought.  He  resolved  to  meet 
it  boldly.  His  opportunity  came  when  a  French 
(West  Frankish)  bishop  appealed  to  Rome  against 
the  action  of  his  metropolitan.  The  metropolitan 
objected  that  there  was  no  precedent  for  papal  ac- 
tion in  such  a  case ;  he  did  not  deny  that  the  Pope 
had  certain  appellate  functions,  but  said  that  if 
the  Pope  interfered  directly  in  the  discipline  of 
bishops,  the  power  of  the  metropolitan  would  be 
impaired.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  this  argument 
did  not  produce  the  result  that  the  metropolitan  de- 
sired. There  was  nothing  the  Papacy  wanted  more 
than  that  its  central  government  should  act  directly 


FROM   CHARLEMAGNE   TO  NICHOLAS    65 

everywhere,  and  that  all  bishops  should  be  depen- 
dent upon  Rome ;  that  was  the  very  principle  of  papal 
supremacy.  The  issue  would  determine  whether  the 
Papacy  was  to  be  an  autocratic  power,  or  a  limited 
court  of  appeal.  Nicholas  was  able  to  take  advan- 
tage of  the  troubled  political  situation  to  enforce 
direct  papal  authority,  and  so  added  an  immense 
prerogative  to  the  papal  power. 

Apart  from  this  imperial  ecclesiastical  principle 
the  latter  episode  is  especially  interesting  on  account 
of  the  character  of  the  evidence  produced  by  the  Pope 
to  maintain  his  position.  This  evidence  consisted 
of  a  new  compilation  of  Church  law  which  appeared 
somewhat  mysteriously  about  this  time.  Thereto- 
fore Church  law  had  consisted  of  a  collection  of 
precepts  taken  from  the  Bible,  from  the  early  Fa- 
thers, from  decrees  of  Councils,  and  also  of  letters, 
called  decretals,  written  by  the  bishops  of  Rome,  but 
none  of  these  decretals  was  earlier  than  the  time  of 
Constantine.  The  fact,  that  there  were  no  papal  de- 
cretals prior  to  Constantine,  seemed  to  imply,  at  least 
to  the  sceptically  minded,  that  papal  authority  had 
really  begun  at  the  time  of  Constantine  and  not  at 
the  time  of  St.  Peter.  To  the  ardent  papist  such  an 
idea  was  incredible.  Nicholas  now  produced  a  new 
batch  of  documents.  Among  these  was  the  Dona- 
tion of  (  'nisi 1 1 at', in ■,  of  which  I  have  spoken.  Others 
were  papal  decretals,  which  purported  to  come  from 

Popes  of  the  third  and  BOCOnd  rent  lines,  and  to  prove 

that  papal  jurisdiction  over  other  bishoprics  had  been 
cised  almost  as  Ear  bacu  as  the  time  of  St.  Peter. 

These    new   appearing   documents   placed    the    Pope 


G<o  A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

not  only  above  kings,  but  above  metropolitans  and 
provincial  Bjnods,  and  justified  Nicholas  in  acting 
directly  in  the  case  of  the  West  Frankish  bishop, 
in  the  King  of  Lorraine's  matrimonial  affairs,  and 
also  in  assuming  to  act  as  "  imperator  of  the  whole 
world."  These  documents,  known  as  the  IsidoHan 
l)i  cretals,  were  probably  composed  by  some  priest  in 
France,  not  long  before  their  use  by  Nicholas.  For 
six  hundred  years  they  were  believed  to  be  genuine, 
and  during  that  time  rendered  the  Papacy  great  ser- 
vice by  ranging  the  sentiment  of  law  throughout  Eu- 
rope (at  least  until  the  revival  of  Roman  law)  on 
the  side  of  the  Papacy  in  its  struggle  with  the  Em- 
pire. 


CHAPTER   VIII 

THE  DEGRADATION  OF  ITALY   (S6T-9G2) 

These  triumphs  were  due  to  the  brilliant  vigour  of 
Pope  Nicholas  ;  but  that  triumphant  position  could 
not  last,  it  was  fictitious.  The  Papacy  needed  the 
support  of  a  strong  secular  power,  and  when  the 
Carlovingian  Empire  dissolved,  it  had  nothing  to 
rest  on,  neither  genius  nor  military  force,  and  fell 
into  deep  degradation. 

To  illustrate  that  degradation  one  episode  will  suf- 
fice ;  but  there  must  first  be  a  word  of  prologue. 
The  Papacy,  as  has  been  said,  occupied  an  anomalous 
position.  From  this  sprang  many  troubles.  As  soon 
as  the  pressure  of  Imperial  authority  was  removed, 
the  Papacy  tended  to  become  the  prize  of  municipal 
politics,  and  different  parties  in  Rome  (if  the  tur- 
bulent mobs  may  be  called  so)  struggled  to  get 
possession  of  it.  One  party,  with  interests  centred 
on  local  matters,  indifferent  to  the  greatness  of  the 
Papacy  and  its  European  character,  and  willing  to 
have  the  Pope  a  mere  local  ruler,  directed  its  efforts 
to  getting  rid  of  all  Imperial  and  foreign  control. 
The  opposite  party,  with  conflicting  interests,  wished 
for  [mperial  control,  and  constituted  a  kind  of  Em- 
poria] party,  less  from  any  large  views,  than  in  the 
hope  of  deriving  advantages  from  Imperial  sup- 
port     Strife  between  the  two  parties  was  the  normal 


68  A   SHORT   HISTOEY   OF   ITALY 

condition,  and  often  ended  in  riot  and  civil  Avar. 
In  this  state  of  affairs,  a  certain  Pope  Formosus 
(S(.>1 -SIX)),  who  belonged  to  the  Imperial  faction, 
went  so  far  as  to  invite  the  German  king-  to  come  down 
to  Rome  and  be  crowned  Emperor.  The  king  actually 
came  and  was  crowned,  but  accomplished  little  or  no- 
thing, except  to  arouse  bitter  hostility  in  his  enemies. 
When  Formosus  died,  his  successor  was  elected  from 
the  opposite  faction.  The  new  Pope  held  a  synod  of 
cardinals  and  bishops,  and  before  them,  the  highest 
Christian  tribunal  in  the  world,  he  summoned,  upon 
the  charge  of  violating  the  canons  of  the  Church, 
the  dead  Formosus,  whose  body  had  lain  in  its  grave 
for  months.  The  body  was  dug  up,  dressed  in  pon- 
tifical robes,  and  propped  upon  a  throne.  Counsel 
was  assigned  to  it.  The  accusation  was  formally  read, 
and  the  Pope  himself  cross-questioned  the  accused, 
who  was  convicted  and  deposed.  His  pontifical 
acts  were  pronounced  invalid.  His  robes  were  torn 
from  him,  the  three  fingers  of  the  right  hand,  which 
in  life  had  bestowed  the  episcopal  blessing,  were 
hacked  off,  and  the  body  was  dragged  through  the 
streets  and  flung  into  the  Tiber. 

This  incident  sheds  light  on  medieval  Rome,  and 
on  the  character  of  the  people  with  whom  the  Popes 
had  to  live.  All  the  Popes,  good,  bad,  and  indifferent, 
whether  they  were  struggling  with  the  Empire  on  great 
cosmopolitan  questions,  or  were  trying  to  unite  Chris- 
tendom against  Islam,  always  had  to  keep  watch  on 
the  brutal,  ignorant,  bloody  Roman  people,  who  took 
no  interest  in  great  questions,  and  were  always  ready 
to  rob,  burn,  and  murder  with  or  without  a  pretext. 


THE   DEGRADATION   OF   ITALY         69 

Now  that  we  have  brought  the  Frankish  Empire 
to  its  dissolution,  and  the  Papacy  to  its  degradation, 
we  must  leave  the  two  wrecks  for  the  moment,  and 
stop  in  these  dark  years  at  the  end  of  the  ninth 
century  to  see  how  Italy  herself  has  fared.  The  Ital- 
ian world  was  out  of  joint,  intellectually,  morally, 
politically.  There  can  hardly  be  said  to  have  been 
a  government.  For  a  generation  the  poor,  shrunken 
Empire  had  been  but  a  shadow7,  and  when  the  last 
Carlovingian  died,  its  parts  tumbled  asunder.  Local 
barons  ruled  everywhere.  The  Imperial  title,  which 
represented  nothing,  and  conveyed  no  power,  seemed, 
however,  to  have  some  vital  principle  of  its  own, 
some  ghostly  virtue ;  at  least  sundry  kings  and 
dukes  thought  so  and  fought  for  it ;  but  until  the 
coming-  of  Otto  the  Great  it  remained  a  shadow. 
North  of  the  Alps  duchies  and  provinces  united  into 
kingdoms ;  but  the  peninsula  remained  split  up  into 
discordant  parts.  The  valley  of  the  Po  was  divided 
into  various  duchies,  peopled  by  a  mixed  race  of 
Latins  and  Lombards,  whom  the  pressure  of  the 
conquering  Franks  had  welded  together.  South  of 
the  Po  lay  the  Imperial  marquisate  of  Tuscany. 
Across  the  middle  of  the  peninsula  stretched  the 
awkward  strip  of  domain  from  Ravenna  to  Koine, 
inhabited  by  a  race  of  comparatively  pure  Latin 
blood.  This  domain,  included  in  the  Donations  of 
Pippin  and  of  Charlemagne,  nominally  subjecl  to  the 
Papacy  under  the  suzerainty  of  the  Empire,  was 
really  in  the  possession  of  petty  nobles,  who  knew 

DO  law  except  Force  and  craft.     South  of  this  so-called 

papal  domain  lay  the  duchy  of  Spoleto  and  the  Lorn- 


70     A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  ITALY 

hard  duchy  of  Benevento,  and  farther  south  a  few 
principalities,  such  as  Naples,  Amain,  and  Salerno, 
and  finally  in  the  heel  and  toe  of  Italy  were  the  last 
remains  of  the  Greek  Empire.  To  the  northeast,  on 
its  islands,  lay  the  little  fishing  and  trading  city, 
Venice. 

The  Italians,  as  we  had  hetter  call  them  now  that 
Barbarian  and  Latin  blood  has  well  commingled, 
were  in  a  most  unenviable  condition.  Most  of  those 
who  tilled  the  soil  were  serfs,  and  went  with  the  land 
when  it  was  sold  ;  some  were  scarce  better  than  slaves, 
others  were  only  bound  to  render  service  of  certain 
kinds  or  on  certain  days,  either  with  their  own  hands 
or  with  beasts.  Their  lot  depended  on  the  humours 
of  the  overseers  of  great  estates.  Slaves  were  worse 
off  because  they  had  no  personal  rights,  but  they 
were  always  decreasing  in  number  despite  a  slave 
trade,  for  there  was  a  strong  religious  sentiment 
against  slavery,  and  it  was  common  for  dying  men 
to  liberate  their  slaves.  In  the  cities  people  were 
better  off,  for  the  artisans  were  free  men,  and  by 
banding  together  in  guilds  (which  had  existed  ever 
since  the  old  Roman  days)  secured  for  themselves 
a  more  prosperous  condition.  But  the  only  thriving 
places  were  the  cities  of  the  coast,  Venice,  Genoa, 
Pisa,  Amalfi,  where  trade  was  already  beginning  to 
lay  the  foundations  of  future  greatness. 

These  glimmerings  of  commerce  were  the  only 
lights  along  the  whole  horizon.  Everything  else 
seemed  to  share  the  blight  that  had  fallen  on  the  Em- 
pire  and  the  Papacy.  The  clergy,  whose  duty  it  was 
to  maintain  learning,  failed  utterly.   Even  in  the  hap- 


THE   DEGRADATION   OF   ITALY         71 

piest  days  of  the  Carlovingian  Empire,  Charlemagne 
had  found  it  necessary  to  enact  blunt  rules  for  their 
guidance.  "  Let  the  priests,  according  to  the  Apos- 
tles' advice,  withdraw  themselves  from  revellings  and 
drunkenness  ;  for  some  of  them  are  wont  to  sit  up  till 
midnight  or  later,  boozing  with  their  neighbours  ; 
and  then  these  men,  who  ought  to  be  of  a  religious 
and  holy  deportment,  return  to  their  churches 
drunken  and  gorged  with  food,  and  unable  to  perform 
the  daily  and  nightly  office  of  praise  to  God,  while 
others  sink  down  in  a  drunken  sleep  in  the  place  of 
their  revels.  .  .  .  Let  no  priest  presume  to  store  pro- 
visions or  hay  in  the  church."  1  Learning,  supposed 
to  be  committed  to  their  charge,  went  out  like  a  spent 
candle.  Books  were  almost  forgotten,  except  perhaps 
here  and  there,  in  Pavia  or  Verona,  where  a  gramma- 
rian still  invoked  Virgil  to  prosper  his  muse  ;  or  where 
in  an  episcopal  city,  like  Ravenna,  some  chronicler 
wrote  a  history  of  the  bishopric.  The  theory  of  his- 
toric truth  on  which  these  chroniclers  acted  gives 
an  inkling  of  the  mediaeval  attitude  towards  facts. 
Father  Agnello,  a  priest  of  Ravenna,  one  of  these 
chroniclers,  Bays  himself:  "If  you,  who  read  this 
History  of  our  Bishopric,  shall  come  to  a  passage  and 
say,  *  Why  didn't  he  narrate  the  facts  about  this 
bishop  as  lie  did  about  his  predecessors,'  listen  to  the 
mil  I,  Andrea  Agnello,  a  humble  priest  of  this 
holy  church  of  Ravenna,  have  written  the  history  of 
this  Bishopric  from  the  time  of  St.  Apollinaris  for 
eighl  hundred  yean  and  more,  because  niv  brethren 

here  have   begged   me  and  compelled  me.    I   have 

1  Italy  and  At  In9adertt  Hixlgkin,  vol.  viii,  p.  lisy. 


72  A   SHORT   HISTORY  OF   ITALY 

put  down  whatever  I  found  the  Bishops  had  undoubt- 
edly done,  and  whatever  I  heard  from  the  oldest  men 
living,  hut  where  I  could  not  find  any  historical  ac- 
count, nor  anything  about  their  lives  in  any  way, 
then,  in  order  to  leave  no  blanks  in  the  holy  succes- 
sion of  bishops,  I  have  made  up  the  missing  lives 
by  the  help  of  God,  through  your  prayers,  and  I 
believe  I  have  said  nothing  untrue,  because  those 
bishops  were  pious  and  pure  and  charitable  and 
winners  of  souls  for  God."  1 

The  monks  were  no  better  than  the  secular  clergy. 
The  monasteries  had  grown  large,  for  many  men 
had  joined  in  order  to  escape  military  service,  or  to 
obtain  personal  security,  or  an  easier  life,  or  greater 
social  consideration  ;  they  had  also  grown  rich,  for 
many  sinners  on  their  deathbeds  had  given  large 
sums,  in  hope  to  compound  for  their  sins.  Naturally 
monastic  vows  were  often  broken.  Moreover,  the 
little  good  that  monks  and  priests  did  they  undid 
by  their  encouragement  of  superstition.  They  first 
frightened  the  poor  peasants  out  of  their  wits  by 
portraying  the  horrors  of  hell,  and  then  preached 
the  magical  properties  of  the  sacraments  and  of 
saints'  bones,  until  the  ordinary  man,  feeling  him- 
self the  sport  of  superhuman  agencies,  abandoned 
all  self-confidence  and  surrendered  himself  to  priestly 
control  as  his  sole  hope  of  safety  in  this  world  or 
the  next. 

Oppressed  by  anarchy,  by  division,  by  a  degen- 
erate church,  by  a  gross  clergy,  and  by  waxing 
ignorance,  Italy  might  seem  to    have  had  its  cup 

1  Le  cronache  ilalianedel  medio  evo  descritte,  Balzani  (translated). 


THE   DEGRADATION   OF  ITALY         73 

of  evil  full.  There  -was  but  one  further  ill  that 
could  be  added,  a  new  Barbarian  invasion.  It  came. 
The  triumphant  Saracens,  having  overrun  Spain  and 
raided  France  in  the  west,  having  cooped  up  the 
Byzantine  Empire  in  the  east,  now  threatened  to 
plant  their  victorious  banners  in  the  very  heart  of 
Christendom.  As  early  as  Charlemagne's  last  years 
they  sacked  a  coast  town  scarce  forty  miles  from 
Rome.  In  827  they  invaded  Sicily,  invited  by  a 
partisan  traitor.  Within  ten  years  they  had  made 
themselves  masters  of  almost  all  the  island,  except 
a  few  strongholds  which  managed  to  hold  out  for 
half  a  century.  The  beaten  Byzantines  retired  to 
the  mainland;  but  they  did  not  get  beyond  the 
reach  of  the  victorious  Saracens,  who  raided  all  the 
Italian  coast  as  far  as  the  Tiber.  Troops  of  ma- 
rauders hovered  round  Rome  and  harried  the  coun- 
tryside, robbing  and  pillaging  at  will.  One  band 
advanced  to  the  very  gates  of  the  city,  and  sacked 
St.  Peter's  and  St.  Paul's,  both  outside  the  walls  and 
undefended  (846).  All  the  southern  provinces  were 
overrun,  half  of  their  towns  became  Saracen  for- 
tresses. It  seemed  as  if  Italy  were  to  undergo  the 
fate  of  Spain  and  become  a  Mohammedan  Km  irate. 
The  danger  to  Rome  roused  the  country.  A 
Christian  league  was  effected  between  the  Imperial 
forces  in  Italy,  the  Pope,  and  the  coast  cities  of  the 
Booth,  —  Naples,  Gaeta,  and  AmalfL  Pope  Leo  him- 
self blessed  the  fleet,  and  the  Christians  beat  the 
infidels  in  a  great  sea-fight  not  far  from  the  Tiber's 
mouth  (849).  Some  of  the  prisoners  were  brought 
to  Koine  and   set    to  work  on   the  walls  which  Pope 


74  A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

Leo  was  building  round  the  Vatican  hill  to  protect 
St.  Peter's;  and  Rome,  imitating  the  days  of  Scipio 
African  us,  celebrated  another  triumph  over  Africa. 
The  fighting  was  kept  up  all  over  the  south.  The 
Greek  Emperor  made  common  cause  with  his  fellow 
Christians,  and  the  immediate  danger  of  conquest 
was  arrested;  but  throughout  this  dismal  ninth  cen- 
tury, and  all  the  tenth,  southern  Italy  continued  to 
suffer  from  Saracen  marauders.  The  tales  told  of 
their  cruelty  are  fearful,  and  match  our  tales  of  In- 
dian raids  in  the  old  French-English  war.  Separate 
villages  and  lonely  monasteries  suffered  most.  Some 
good  came  out  of  the  evil,  however,  for  the  chroni- 
clers relate  how  the  abbots  and  their  terrified  breth- 
ren spent  days  and  nights  fasting  and  in  prayer. 

Such  was  the  condition  of  Italy  when  the  Impe- 
rial Carlovinffian  line  came  to  an  end.  The  omni- 
presence  of  anarchy  was  a  permanent  argument  for 
the  need  of  an  Imperial  restoration.  But  the  coun- 
try did  not  know  how  to  go  to  work  to  restore  the 
Empire.  At  first  various  claimants  asserted  various 
titles,  and  Italian  dukes  and  neighbouring  kings 
fought  one  another  like  bulls,  but  none  were  able  to 
establish  any  stable  power.  In  the  midst  of  these 
ineffectual  struggles  one  real  effort  was  made.  Ar- 
nulf,  king  of  the  Germans,  who  regarded  himself  as 
the  true  successor  of  the  great  Frankish  house  and 
of  right  Imperial  heir,  marched  down  into  Italy  at 
the  invitation  of  Pope  Formosus,  as  we  have  seen, 
and  assumed  the  Imperial  crown  (896).  The  expe- 
dition was  barren  of  consequences,  but  it  gives  us 
another  glimpse   of  the  anomalous  nature  of  the 


THE   DEGRADATION   OF   ITALY         75 

Papacy,  and  the  different  views  entertained  of  it  on 
the  two  sides  of  the  Alps.  The  German  king  wished 
to  be  Emperor,  and  felt  that  an  Imperial  coronation 
at  Rome  by  the  Pope  was  essential.  To  him  and  to 
his  German  subjects  the  papal  invitation  was  of  high 
authority.  When  he  reached  Rome,  however,  the 
seat  of  the  Papacy,  he  found  the  gates  barred  and 
the  walls  manned  by  rebellious  citizens,  who  had 
locked  the  Pope  in  the  Castle  of  Sant'  Angelo,  and 
had  seized  the  government  of  the  city.  Arnulf 
easily  carried  the  defences  by  storm  and  liberated 
the  Pope.  The  incident  illustrates  the  contrast  be- 
tween Teutonic  respect  and  Roman  disobedience, 
and  describes  the  papal  situation  as  it  was  half  the 
time  throughout  the  Middle  Ages.  Honoured  and 
reverenced  by  the  pious  ultramontanes,  the  Popes 
were  insulted,  robbed,  imprisoned,  and  deposed  by 
their  immediate  subjects.  This  local  disobedience, 
or,  as  it  should  be  called,  Roman  republicanism, 
was  often  the  insignificant  cause  of  papal  actions 
of  far-reaching  effect.  The  Popes  were  never  strong 
enough  of  themselves  to  suppress  these  republican 
sentiments  and  ambitions  ;  they  needed  support  from 
some  power,  Italian  or  foreign.  As  they  would  not 
endure  the  idea  of  an  Italian  kingdom,  they  adopted 
tin-  alternative  «»i  calling  in  a  foreign  power.  This 
was  the  constant  papal  policy. 

Another    instance  of    Roman   republicanism,  or 
disobedience  (as  "in-  chooses),  throws  Further  light 

on  tin?  nature  of  this  thorn  in  the  papal  side.     No1 

long  alter  Arnulfs  expedition,  two  women,  Theo- 
dora  and    Marozia.  mother  and  daughter,  played   a 


76  A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

great  part  not  only  in  Roman  but  also  in  Italian 
politics.  These  two  women  ruled  the  city  and  ap- 
pointed the  Popes.  They  were  bold,  comely,  much- 
marrying  women,  choosing  eligible  husbands  almost 
by  force  ;  both  were  wholly  Roman  in  the  fierceness, 
vigour,  and  sensuality  of  their  characters.  They  were 
very  capable,  and,  in  part  directly,  in  part  through 
their  husbands  and  others,  exercised  control  for 
some  thirty  years ;  and  when  the  daughter  disap- 
peared from  history,  her  son,  Alberic,  took  the  title, 
Prince  and  Senator  of  all  the  Romans,  and  ruled  in 
her  stead. 

Thus  the  last  hope  of  Italians  helping  themselves 
perished  ;  for  if  the  Papacy  was  powerless,  there 
was  no  help  elsewhere  in  Italy.  The  usurpation  of 
these  viragoes  and  of  Alberic  differs  in  details  from 
the  usurpation  of  the  later  republicans,  and  of  the 
Colon  na,  Orsini,  and  other  barons,  who  shall  appear 
hereafter  in  papal  history,  but  for  general  effect  on 
papal  affairs  and  through  them  on  European  affairs, 
all  these  usurpations  were  very  similar.  The  usurp- 
ers, in  diverse  characters,  represent  that  third  player 
in  the  fencing  match,  who,  though  by  no  means  an 
ally  of  the  Empire,  frequently  rushed  in  and  struck 
up  the  Pope's  guard,  and  continued  to  interfere  for 
hundreds  of  years,  until  the  Popes  of  the  Renais- 
sance finally  established  their  temporal  power  in  the 
city  of  Rome. 

By  the  middle  of  the  tenth  century  the  disintegra- 
tion of  Italy  had  become  so  bad  that  it  caused  its  own 
cure.  It  was  obvious  that  something  must  be  done. 
The  Saracens,  strongly  established  in  Sicily,  were 


THE   DEGRADATION   OF   ITALY         77 

a  standing  menace  towards  the  south.  From  the 
north  wild  bands  of  Hungarians  burst  across  the 
Alps  and  harried  the  land  in  barbaric  raids  as  far 
as  Rome.  Feudal  anarchy  prevailed  everywhere. 
Monks  and  clergy  were,  to  say  the  least,  no  help. 
Even  the  Papacy,  the  only  stable  power,  had  be- 
come the  appanage  of  a  Roman  family.  There  was 
but  one  way  out  of  this  chaos.  The  Roman  Empire 
must  be  restored.  The  Latin  people  never  believed 
that  it  was  extinct  but  merely  lying  latent,  requiring 
some  happy  application  of  might  and  right  to  set  it 
going  again  on  its  majestic  course.  Charlemagne, 
in  his  day,  had  supplied  the  might.  That  might  had 
faded  away.  Where  was  its  substitute  to  be  found? 
Pope  Formosus  and  King  Arnulf  had  already  sug- 
gested the  only  possible  answer,  —  in  the  eastern  por- 
tion of  the  Frankish  Empire,  the  kingdom  of  Ger- 
many. That  kingdom,  composed  of  the  great  duchies 
of  Bavaria,  Swabia,  Franconia,  Saxony,  and  Lorraine, 
had  become  tolerably  compact ;  it  was  strong  at 
home,  and  was  eager  for  glory  and  power  abroad. 
It-  ambitious  king,  Otto,  of  the  Saxon  line,  was  the 
man  to  undertake  to  follow  Charlemagne's  example. 
It  was  too  late  to  hope  to  restore  the  Carlo vingian 
Empire  in  its  former  boundaries,  but  with  Germany 
to  give  strength  and  Rome  to  contribute  title,  there 
would  be  the  two  necessary  elements  for  a  renewal 
of  the  Roman  Empire. 

The  immediate  pretext  of  Otto's  coming  down 
into  Italv  was  highly  romantic.  A  lovely  lady,  the 
widow  of  one  Italian  pretender  to  the  throne  of 
Italv.  was  pestered  with  offers  of  marriage  from  an- 


7>    A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  ITALY 

other  pretender.  She  refused,  and  was  locked  up  in 
a  tower  by  the  Lake  of  Garda,  where  memories  of 
Catullus  and  Lesbia  still  faintly  lingered.  She  con- 
trived to  escape,  and  sent  piteous  messages  for  help 
to  the  great  Otto,  then  a  widower.  Discontented  fac- 
tions in  the  north,  and  others  Buffering  from  oppres- 
sion, including  the  Pope  who  had  been  rudely  roused 
to  the  need  of  Imperial  support,  also  sent  messen- 
gers asking  him  to  come.  Otto  came,  took  Pavia,  and 
acted  as  King  of  Italy.  He  married  the  lovely  widow, 
and  wished  to  go  to  Rome  to  receive  the  Imperial 
crown  ;  but  Alberic,  lord  of  Rome,  would  not  give 
permission.  Otto  went  back  to  Germany  and  bided 
his  time.  In  ten  years  Alberic  died  leaving  a  young 
son,  who,  although  only  seventeen  years  old,  in- 
herited enough  of  his  father's  power  to  get  himself 
elected  Pope,  John  XII.  Pope  John,  however,  found 
himself  encompassed  by  powerful  enemies  both  in 
Rome  and  out.  He  too  was  obliged  to  recognize 
the  absolute  necessity  of  Imperial  restoration,  and 
called  upon  Otto  for  aid.  The  German  king  came, 
and  was  crowned  by  the  Pope,  Emperor  of  the  Ro- 
mans, in  St.  Peter's  basilica,  on  the  second  day  of 
February,  962.  This  coronation  was  the  beginning 
of  a  new  phase  in  the  Roman  Empire.  In  this  phase 
that  Empire  is  known  as  the  Holy  Roman  Empire, 
although  it  was  merely  a  union  of  Germany,  Italy, 
and  Burgundy. 


CHAPTER   IX 

THE  REVIVAL  OF  THE  PAPACY  (962-1056) 

This  Roman  Empire  (it  did  not  receive  its  full  title 
of  Holy  Roman  Empire  until  later)  deserved  the 
name  Roman  because  it  rested  on  the  Roman  tra- 
dition of  the  political  unity  of  the  civilized  world. 
This  tradition,  by  means  of  the  ecclesiastical  unity 
of  Europe,  had  survived  the  Barbarian  invasions,  had 
gained  strength  through  Charlemagne's  Empire,  and 
now  joined  together  two  nations  so  fundamentally 
different  as  Germany  and  Italy.  The  Germans  were 
lug  blond  men,  beer-drinkers,  huge  eaters,  rough, 
ill-mannered,  arrogant,  phlegmatic  and  brave;  the 
Italians  were  little,  dark-skinned  men,  wine-drinkers, 
lettuce-eaters,  with  pleasant  manners,  gesticulating, 
excitable,  and  un warlike.  Their  union  affords  the 
strongest  testimony  to  the  strength  of  the  Roman 
tradition.  This  ill-assorted  pair,  married  in  obedi- 
ence to  the  will  of  dead  generations,  could  not  live 
together  in  peace.  The  theory  of  a  world  conjointly 
ruled  bya  BUpreme  secular  sovereign  and  a  supreme 
ecclesiastical  sovereign  could  not  be  put  into  success- 
ful practice.  The  Empire  was  German,  the  Papacy 
Italian,  and  by  their  very  natures  fchey  were  antago- 
nistic. 

Otto'fl  empire  was  by  no  means   universal,  but  its 

suzerainty  was  acknowledged  by  Bohemia,  Moravia, 


80    A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  ITALY 

Poland,  Denmark,  perhaps  by  Hungary,  and  some- 
times by  France;  and  therefore,  as  eastern  Europe 
was  either  Greek  or  barbarian,  Britain  an  island,  and 
Spain  practically  Mohammedan,  it  sustained  fairly 
well  the  idea  of  a  universal  (i.  e.,  European)  empire. 
The  essential  parts  were  Germany  to  give  strength, 
and  Italy  to  give  title  and  tradition.  In  theory  the 
process  of  royal  and  Imperial  election  and  coronation 
was  as  follows.  The  German  electors  (the  greater 
nobles),  whose  number  was  not  limited  to  seven  for 
two  centuries  and  more,  elected  a  king,  who  was 
crowned  with  a  silver  crown  at  Aachen,  and,  by 
virtue  of  his  coronation,  received  the  title,  King  of 
the  Romans.  This  king  then  took  the  iron  crown 
of  Lombardy  at  Pa  via,  and  became  King  of  Italy  ; 
and,  when  he  received  the  gold  Imperial  crown  from 
the  Pope  at  Rome,  became  Emperor.  The  election 
of  the  son  of  the  late  Emperor  to  succeed  was  the 
custom,  but  was  not  obligatory.  Germany  was  not 
a  strongly  centralized  state,  but  was  composed  of 
several  dukedoms,  which  often  fell  out  among  them- 
selves. Italy  was  still  less  a  political  unit.  It  had  no 
marks  of  nationality,  except  its  geographical  posi- 
tion, its  ancient  tradition,  and  a  tardily  forming 
language ;  but  even  this  lingua  vol  gave,  which  in 
Otto's  time  began  to  have  an  Italian  sound,  and  to 
touch  the  degenerate  written  Latin  with  an  Italian 
look,  did  not  prevail  throughout  the  peninsula.  In 
the  south  Greek  was  still  spoken,  and  the  Holy 
Roman  Empire  never  had  more  than  the  shadow  of 
a  title  south  of  Benevento  till  after  Barbarossa's 
time.    The  Emperor's  authority  rested  at  bottom  on 


THE    REVIVAL   OF   THE   PAPACY        81 

the  German  military  power ;  and  as  this  depended 
on  the  obedience  of  wayward  and  jealous  dukedoms, 
it  was  uncertain  and  intermittent. 

The  Papacy  was  far  more  stable,  for  fundamen- 
tally it  was  a  moral  power,  and  got  its  energy  from 
men's  consciences.  It  was  far  better  organized  than 
the  Empire.  The  ecclesiastical  system  spread  all  over 
Europe,  into  every  city,  village,  hamlet,  and  monas- 
tery; countries  which  reluctantly  acknowledged  the 
suzerainty  of  the  Empire,  bowed  unquestioningly  to 
papal  rule.  Moreover,  the  power  of  the  Papacy  did 
not  merely  consist  in  spiritual  weapons,  terrible  as 
the  ban  of  excommunication  was  in  those  days,  but 
also  in  its  ability  to  raise  up  enemies  against  its 
enemy?  and  to  put  the  cloak  of  piety  over  war  and 
rebellion. 

The  ironical  element  in  the  situation  was  that  the 
Empire  itself  lifted  the  Papacy  to  the  position  in 
which  it  was  able  to  turn  and  defy  the  Empire,  fight 
it,  and  finally  destroy  it.  The  Emperors,  who  enter- 
tained no  doubts  that  the  Papacy  was  subject  to 
them,  that  they  were  responsible  for  its  conduct  and 
must  secure  the  election  of  worthy  Popes,  took  the 
Papacy  out  of  the  hands  of  the  Roman  faction, 
purified  it,  and  appointed  honest,  capable,  upright 
Popes. 

A  contemporary  account  of   Otto's   dealings  with 

that  young  scamp,  Pope  John  XII,  who  in  morals 
:      mbled   bis  grandmother,  Marozia,  gives  a  good 

picture  of  the  nature  of   tin:  benefits  which  the  Em- 
pire conferred  on  the  Papacy:  "  While  these  things 
taking  place;  the  constellation  of  Cancer,  hot 


82  A   SHORT   HISTORY  OF   ITALY 

from  the  enkindling  rays  of  Phoebus,  kept  the  Em- 
peror away  from  the  hills  around  Rome,  but  when 
the  constellation  of  Virgo  returning  brought  back 
the  pleasant  season  he  went  to  Rome  upon  a  secret 
invitation  from  the  Romans.  But  why  should  I  say 
8<  cret  when  the  greater  part  of  the  nobility  burst 
into  the  Castle  of  St.  Paul  and  invited  the  holy 
Emperor,  and  even  gave  hostages?  The  citizens 
received  the  holy  Emperor  and  all  his  men  within 
the  city,  promised  allegiance,  and  took  an  oath  that 
they  would  never  elect  a  Pope,  nor  consecrate  him, 
without  the  consent  and  the  sanction  of  the  Lord 
Emperor  Otto,  Caesar,  Augustus,  and  of  his  son, 
King  Otto. 

"  Three  days  later,  at  the  request  of  the  Roman 
bishops  and  people,  there  was  a  great  meeting  in 
St.  Peter's  Church,  and  with  the  Emperor  sat  the 
archbishops  of  Aquileia,  Milan,  and  Ravenna,  the 
archbishop  of  Saxony  [and  many  other  Italian  and 
German  prelates].  When  they  were  seated,  and 
silence  made,  the  holy  Emperor  got  ivp  and  said : 
'  How  fit  it  would  be  that  in  this  distinguished  and 
holy  council  our  lord  Pope  John  should  be  present! 
But  since  he  has  refused  to  be  of  your  company, 
we  ask  your  counsel,  holy  fathers,  for  you  have  the 
same  interest  as  he.'  Then  the  Roman  prelates, 
cardinals,  priests,  and  deacons,  and  all  the  people 
cried  out :  '  We  are  surprised  that  your  reverend 
prudence  should  wish  to  make  us  investigate  that 
which  is  not  hidden  from  the  Iberians,  the  Babylo- 
nians, nor  the  Indians.  He  [the  Pope]  is  no  longer 
one  of  that  kind,  which  come  in  sheep's  clothing  but 


THE  REVIVAL  OF  THE  PAPACY   83 

inwardly  are  ravening  wolves ;  he  rages  so  openly, 
does  his  diabolical  misdeeds  so  manifestly,  that  we 
need  not  beat  about  the  bush.'  The  Emperor  an- 
swered :  '  "We  deem  it  just  that  the  accusations 
should  be  stated  one  by  one,  and  after  that  we  will 
take  counsel  too-ether  of  what  we  ousjht  to  do.' 

"  Then  Cardinal-priest  Peter  got  up,  and  testified 
that  he  had  seen  the  Pope  celebrate  mass  without 
communion.  John,  bishop  of  Narni,  and  John,  car- 
dinal-deacon, declared  that  they  had  seen  him  ordain 
a  deacon  in  a  stable,  and  not  at  the  proper  hour. 
Cardinal-deacon  Benedict,  with  other  priests  and  dea- 
cons, said  that  they  knew  that  he  ordained  bishops 
for  money,  and  that  in  the  city  of  Todi  he  had 
ordained  as  bishop  a  boy  ten  years  old.  They  said 
it  was  not  necessary  to  go  into  his  sacrileges  because 
they  had  seen  more  such  than  could  be  reckoned. 
They  said  in  regard  to  his  adulteries  .  .  .  They  said 
that  he  had  publicly  gone  a-hunting  ;  that  he  had  put 
out  the  eyes  of  his  spiritual  father,  Benedict,  who 
died  soon  after  in  consequence  ;  that  he  had  mutilated 
and  killed  John,  cardinal-subdeacon  ;  and  they  tes- 
tified that  he  had  set  buildings  on  fire,  armed  with 
helmet  and  breastplate,  and  girt  with  a  sword.  All, 
priests  ami  laymen,  cried  out  that  he  had  drunk  a 
toast  to  the  devil.  They  said  that  while  playing  dice 
lie  had  invoked  the  aid  of  Jupiter,  Venus,  and  other 
demons.  Thev  declared  tli.it  he  had  not  celebrated 
matins,  nor  observed  the  canonical  hours,  and  that 
lie  did  not  cross  himself. 

"  When  the  EmperOI  had  heard  all  this,  lie  bade 
me,  LiutpramL  bishop  of  Cremona,  interpret   to  the 


84  A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

Romans,  because  they  could  not  understand  his 
Saxon.  Then  he  got  up  and  said  :  '  It  often  happens, 
and  we  believe  it  from  our  experience,  that  men  in 
great  place  are  slandered  by  the  envious,  for  a  good 
man  is  disliked  by  bad  men  just  as  a  bad  man  is  dis- 
liked by  good  men.  And  for  this  reason  we  enter- 
tain some  doubts  concerning  this  accusation  against 
the  Pope,  which  Cardinal-deacon  Benedict  has  just 
read  and  made  before  you,  uncertain  whether  it 
springs  from  zeal  for  justice  or  from  envy  and  im- 
piety. Therefore  with  the  authority  of  the  dignity 
granted  to  me,  though  unworthy,  I  beseech  you  by 
that  God,  whom  no  man  can  deceive  howsoever  he 
may  wish,  and  by  His  holy  mother,  the  Virgin  Mary, 
and  by  the  most  precious  body  of  the  prince  of  the 
Apostles,  in  whose  Church  we  now  are,  that  no  ac- 
cusation be  cast  at  our  lord  the  Pope  of  faults  which 
he  has  not  committed  and  which  have  not  been  seen 
by  the  most  trustworthy  men.' '  The  accusers  af- 
firmed their  charges  on  oath.  Then  the  holy  Synod 
said  :  "  If  it  please  the  holy  Emperor  let  letters  be 
sent  to  our  lord  the  Pope,  bidding  him  come  and 
clear  himself  of  these  charges."  The  wary  John  did 
not  come,  but  wrote :  "  I,  Bishop  John,  servant  of  the 
servants  of  God,  to  all  the  bishops.  We  have  heard 
that  you  propose  to  elect  another  Pope.  If  you  do 
that,  I  excommunicate  you  in  the  name  of  Almighty 
God  so  that  you  shall  not  have  the  right  to  ordain 
anybody,  nor  to  celebrate  mass." 1  Nevertheless, 
John  was  deposed  and  a  good  Pope  put  in  his  stead. 
Otto's  successors,  one  after  the  other,  followed  his 

1  Le  cronache  italiane  del  medio  evo  descritte,  Balzaui,  p.  123. 


THE  REVIVAL  OF  THE  PAPACT   85 

example,  and  treated  the  Papacy  as  if  it  had  been 
a  German  bishopric.  The  Emperors,  however,  had 
work  to  do  north  of  the  Alps,  and  did  not  spend 
much  time  in  Rome,  except  Otto  III,  a  romantic 
dreamer,  who  wished  to  live  there ;  and  during  their 
absence  the  turbulent  Roman  anti-imperial  faction 
used  to  seize  the  Papacy,  just  as  Alberic  had  done, 
and  put  up  worthless  Popes.  In  spite  of  them  the 
Emperors'  Popes  raised  the  Papacy  so  high  that,  as 
a  matter  of  course,  it  became  the  head  of  the  great 
ecclesiastical  reform  movement  which  swept  over 
Europe  in  the  eleventh  century,  and  from  that  move- 
ment drew  in  so  much  force  and  energy  that  it 
became  the  greatest  power  in  Europe,  and  was  enabled 
finally  to  overthrow  the  Empire. 

This  tide  of  reform  arose  at  Cluny,  a  little  place 
in  Burgundy,  and  began  as  a  monastic  reform.  All 
over  Christendom  monasteries  had  grown  rich  and 
prosperous ;  many  monks  had  forsaken  Benedict's 
rule,  had  broken  their  vows  and  lived  with  wives  and 
children  upon  revenues  intended  for  other  purposes. 
Other  monks  hated  this  evil  conduct,  and  burning 
with  a  passionate  desire  to  stop  it,  started  a  great 
movement  of  monastic  reform.  The  reform  was 
ascetic  in  character,  as  a  moral  emotion  in  those  days 
was  hound  to  be.  The  first  reformers  gathered  at 
Cluny,  about  tin*  beginning  of  t In*  tenth  century. 
From  there  disciples  went  far  and  wide, purging  old 
monasteries  and  founding  new.  Alter  a  time  the  re- 
formers passed  beyond  theearly  stage  of  mere  moral 

revolt  against  godless  living,  formed  a  party,  and  put 

forward  b  meed.    The  party  represented  antagonism 


86  A   SHORT  HISTORY   OF  ITALY 

to  the  world,  pitted  saints  against  sinners,  the  Church 
against  the  State.  The  creed  had  three  tenets.  No 
ecclesiasts  should  marry,  and  married  men  upon  ordi- 
nation should  live  apart  from  their  wives.  No  bribery, 
no  corrupt  bargain,  should  taint  the  appointment  and 
installation  of  clergy,  high  or  low.  No  layman  should 
meddle  with  the  entry  of  bishops  upon  their  episcopal 
office.  These  three  tenets  roused  bitter  opposition. 
Celibacy  of  the  clergy  had  been  a  rule  of  Church 
discipline  since  early  days,  and  from  time  to  time 
efforts  had  been  made  to  enforce  the  practice,  but  it 
had  fallen  into  general  disregard.  A  celibate  clergy, 
with  no  affections  or  interests  nearer  or  dearer  than 
the  Church,  would  be  a  tremendous  ecclesiastical 
force,  and  far-sighted  Popes  always  sought  to  enforce 
the  rule.  Necessarily  the  married  clergy  and  many 
clerical  bachelors  were  violent  in  opposition.  The 
article  against  simony  nobody  openly  gainsaid  ;  but 
many  bishops  and  abbots  had  obtained  their  offices 
by  corrupt  practices,  and  many  nobles  looked  forward 
to  rich  livings  and  high  ecclesiastical  places ;  both 
classes  opposed  a  change.  The  third  article,  against 
lav  investiture  of  bishops,  which  was  to  be  the  cause 
of  deadly  war  between  Empire  and  Papacy,  was  a 
logical  conclusion  from  the  article  against  simony ; 
for  it  was  hard  to  suppose  that  in  the  appointment 
of  bishops,  kings  and  princes  would  disregard  all 
worldly  motives  and  appoint  men  solely  for  the  good 
of  souls.  On  the  other  hand,  the  great  bishoprics 
and  abbeys  were  among  the  most  important  fiefs  in 
a  king's  gift,  and  carried  with  them  feudal  privileges 
of  sovereignty,  such  as  rights  of  coinage,  toll,  hold- 


THE   REVIVAL   OF   THE   PAPACY        87 

ing  courts,  etc. ;  in  short,  they  were  mere  secular  fiefs 
with  ecclesiastical  prerogatives  added.  It  was  natural 
that  the  German  Emperors  should  claim  the  right  to 
appoint  and  invest  these  spiritual  barons,  and  insist 
that  their  episcopal  territories  should  be  subject  to 
the  same  feudal  obligations  and  the  same  civic  duties 
as  the  territories  granted  to  lay  barons.  This  third 
article  was  a  direct  attack  on  the  civil  poAver.  It'  all 
Imperial  participation  were  to  be  stricken  out,  and 
bishops  put  into  possession  of  their  fiefs  solely  by 
the  Pope,  then  vast  territories,  estimated  to  be  nearly 
half  the  Empire,  would  be  withdrawn  from  civic  obli- 
gations, even  from  military  service,  and  the  Pope, 
ousting  the  Emperor,  would  become  monarch  of  half 
the  Imperial  domains.  According  to  the  canons  of 
the  Church,  the  clergy  and  the  people  of  the  diocese 
elected  the  bishop,  and  the  Church  bestowed  on  him 
ring  and  staff,  the  signs  of  episcopal  office.  The 
trouble  arose  over  the  fief.  In  feudal  times  the  kings 
had  enfeoffed  bishops  with  great  fiefs  in  order  to 
counterbalance  the  insubordinate  secular  lords,  and 
because,  in  episcopal  hands,  these  fiefs  did  not  be- 
ii  uiie  hereditary.  When  the  reformers  took  the  mat- 
ter up,  they  found  that  in  practice  the  kings  did  not 
wait  tni'  a  canonical   election  of  episcopal  candidates, 

bnt invested  their  henchmen  in  return  for  money  or 
BOme  service  which  had  no  savour  of  sanctity.  The 
episcopal  office,  as  St.  Peter  Damian  complained, 
wssgoi  "  by  flattering  the  king,  studying  his  inclina- 
tion, obeying  hi-  beck,  applauding  every  word  that 

fell  from  his  month,  hv  acting  the  parasite  ami  play- 
ing  tin-   buffoon."     The   real   difficulty  lay  in   the 


88  A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF  ITALY 

double  nature  of  the  episcopal  office,  half  ecclesi- 
astical and  half  feudal ;  and,  like  other  great  political 
difficulties,  would  not  yield  to  a  peaceful  solution, 
until  there  had  been  a  trial  of  strength  between  the 
discordant  interests. 

The  first  consequence,  however,  of  the  reforming 
spirit  was  to  ennoble  the  whole  Church,  to  purify  her 
members,  and  animate  them  with  a  common  zeal,  and 
to  uplift  her  head,  the  Papacy.  It  carried  on,  in  a 
larger  way  and  with  a  greater  sweep,  the  work  of 
ecclesiastical  reformation  begun  by  the  intervention 
of  the  Emperors  in  the  election  of  Popes,  and  gave 
a  loftier  tone  to  European  politics. 


CHAPTER   X 

THE  STRUGGLE  OVER  INVESTITURES  (1059-1123) 

The  struggle  over  the  lay  investiture  of  bishops  did 
not  arise  at  first.  The  Papacy  was  still  a  dependent 
bishopric  in  the  gift  of  the  Emperors,  who  continued 
to  depose  bad  Roman  Popes  and  appoint  upright 
Germans.  Popes  and  Emperors  worked  together  to 
enforce  celibacy  among  the  clergy  and  to  put  down 
simony.  The  Emperors  could  not  see,  what  is  evi- 
dent in  retrospect,  that  when  the  spirit  of  reform 
should  have  taken  full  possession  of  the  Papacy, 
then  the  Papacy  would  not  rest  content  to  be  a  Ger- 
man bishopric,  but,  in  obedience  to  the  law  which 
links  political  ambition  to  political  vigour,  would 
even  aim  so  high  as  to  try  to  reduce  the  Empire 
itself  to  the  condition  of  a  papal  fief.  The  spirit 
of  reform,  embodied  in  a  man  of  genius,  did  take 
possession  of  the  Papacy  and  the  great  struggle 
be<rim. 

Among  the  crowd  that  thronged  to  Cluny  eager 
for  a  higher  life,  was  a  young  Tuscan  from  Orvieto, 
Bildebrand  by  name,  of  plebeian  birth.  Small  of 
stature,  vehement  in  spirit,  passionate  in  feeling  and 
action,  lie  Mas  confident  in  himself  and  yet  sensi- 
tive to  sympathy.  This  lad  became  an  eager  scholar, 

but  in  spite  of  erudition  and  fondness  for  study,  lie 
was  essentially  a   man  of  action,  a    born   leader  of 


90  A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF  ITALY 

men.  "  What  he  taught  by  word  he  proved  by  ex- 
ample." He  believed  absolutely  in  the  tenets  of  the 
reformers.  He  believed  with  his  whole  being-  that 
the  Church  was  a  divine  institution  to  save  men's 
souls,  and  he  could  not  endure  the  idea  of  secular 
powers  and  worldly  influences  intermeddling  with 
God's  fabric.  His  career  exhibits  the  power  of  a 
man  of  genius,  who  devotes  his  whole  life  to  what 
for  him  is  the  highest  end,  and  is  able  to  use  human 
enthusiasm  for  good  as  his  implement. 

Hildebrand  has  been  called  the  Julius  Caesar  of 
the  Papacy.  He  went  to  Rome  about  1048.  From 
that  time  papal  policy  became  definite,  vigorous, 
stamped  with  an  antique  Roman  stamp ;  and  open 
conflict  with  the  Empire  was  the  inevitable  result. 
Hildebrand's  first  care  was  to  protect  the  Papacy 
from  the  petty-minded  Roman  faction ;  he  supported 
papal  candidates  of  high  character  and  even  secured 
the  appointment  of  a  German,  sagaciously  foreseeing 
that  ecclesiastical  patriotism  would  be  stronger  than 
national  patriotism.  These  Popes  put  Hildebrand's 
views  into  execution. 

Now  that  the  Papacy  had  been  rescued  from  the 
Roman  faction,  the  next  step  was  to  free  it  from 
the  Egyptian  bondage  of  subjection  to  the  Empire. 
Hildebrand  was  ready  to  strike  whenever  a  fair 
opportunity  should  come.  It  soon  came.  The  Em- 
peror died,  leaving  his  son  Henry  IV,  a  little  boy, 
his  successor  on  the  German  throne  and  heir  to  the 
Empire.  A  long  minority  seemed  to  reveal  the  hand 
of  Providence.  Hildebrand  acted.  It  had  long  been 
obvious  that  one  cause  of  papal  subjection  to  Ro- 


THE  STRUGGLE  OVER  INVESTITURES      91 

man  faction  and  Imperial  tyrant  had  been  the  un- 
certainty of  the  electoral  body.  Emperors,  Roman 
nobles,  and  Roman  rabble,  all  had  certain  historic 
electoral  rights.  Hildebrand  resolved  to  dispossess 
them  all.  A  synod  was  held,  which  declared  that 
the  election  of  the  Pope  lay  in  the  hands  of  the 
cardinals  (1059).  Some  right  of  approval  was  left 
to  the  Roman  people,  some  right  of  sanction  to 
the  Emperor,  but  the  right  of  original  election  was 
vested  in  the  cardinals,  and  this  gradually  developed 
into  an  absolute  and  exclusive  right  of  election. 
This  act  was  an  act  of  rebellion  towards  the  Empire, 
a  declaration  of  independence.  Hildebrand  said  that 
he  strove  to  make  the  Church  "free,  pure,  and  cath- 
olic."   This  action  made  it  free. 

It  was  not  to  be  expected  that  the  Empire  would 
acquiesce  tamely  in  this  rebellion.  Imperialists  and 
Romans  made  common  cause  against  the  clerical 
rebels.  But  the  height  of  the  conflict  was  not  reached 
till  Hildebrand  himself  was  elevated  to  the  Papacy 
(1073),  becoming  Gregory  VII.  He  immediately 
took-  the  offensive.  Burning;  with  conviction  him- 
self,  he  appealed  to  the  general  enthusiasm  both 
in  the  Church  and  throughout  the  Empire  for  the 
cause  of  God;  he  ruthlessly  denounced  simony  and 
proclaimed  principles  of  papal  sovereignty  absolute 
and  universal.  "  The  Roman  Church  was  founded 
by  God  alone;  she  never  has  erred  and  never  will 
err,  and    no    man    is   a  Catholic  who    is    not  at  peace 

with  her.  The  Roman  bishop  alone  is  universal. 
He  may  depose  bishops  ami  reinstate  them,  he  may 
transfer  them  from  one  Bee  to  another,  he  may  de- 


92  A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

pose  emperors,  and  may  absolve  the  subjects  of  the 
unjust  from  their  allegiance.  No  synod  without  his 
consent  is  general ;  no  episcopal  chapter,  no  book, 
canonical  without  his  authority.  No  man  may  sit  in 
judgment  on  his  decrees,  but  he  may  judge  the  de- 
crees of  all."  Here  certainly  was  a  second  Julius 
Caesar  in  ambition.  Gregory  claimed  feudal  suprem- 
acy over  Bohemia,  Russia,  Hungary,  Spain,  Corsica, 
Sardinia,  Dalmatia,  Croatia,  Poland,  Scandinavia,  and 
England.  Such  claims  were  vague  and  shadowy ; 
but  the  claims  to  interfere  between  the  German  king 
and  the  German  episcopate  and  clergy  were  definite 
and  direct.  The  Papacy  declared  its  own  supremacy, 
and  the  Imperial  duty  of  obedience. 

Gregory  had  immense  moral  support  at  his  back, 
yet  moral  support  would  not  have  sufficed  to  protect 
him  from  the  king's  anger.  Nor  would  Gregory  have 
ventured  on  so  haughty  a  course,  had  he  not  had 
allies  of  another  character.  These  allies  were  four 
in  number,  and  require  some  description.  First  in 
importance  come  the  Normans.  For  years  bands  of 
Norman  warriors,  pious  folk,  had  passed  through 
Southern  Italy  on  their  way  to  the  Holy  Land.  Once 
a  handful  had  helped  a  prince  of  Salerno  to  repel  a 
Saracen  attack.  The  prince,  so  the  story  goes,  de- 
lighted with  their  valour,  begged  them  to  invite  their 
compatriots  to  come.  The  invitation  was  readily 
accepted.  Bands  of  gentlemen  adventurers  came, 
fought  against  Saracens,  or  Greeks,  or  the  inde- 
pendent dukes  and  princes  of  Southern  Italy,  first 
as  mercenaries  in  anybody's  pay,  and  afterwards  on 
their  own  account.    They  soon  conquered  a  domain, 


THE  STRUGGLE  OVER  INVESTITURES      93 

and  reached  out  in  all  directions.  Some  drove  out 
the  last  Byzantines  and  acquired  Southern  Italy ; 
some  crossed  to  Sicily,  performed  prodigies  of  valour 
against  the  Saracens,  and  finally  conquered  the  whole 
island  (1060-90).  In  their  raids  northward  they 
trespassed  upon  papal  territory  and  came  into  col- 
lision with  the  Church.  St.  Peter's  sword  was  drawn 
and  brandished,  but  ineffectually.  The  Popes  then 
concluded  that  martial  deeds  did  not  become  them ; 
and  the  Normans,  on  their  part,  were  pious  folk ;  so 
together  they  formed  a  happy  solution.  The  Nor- 
mans had  possession  of  Southern  Italy  and  Sicily, 
but  merely  by  right  of  conquest ;  they  were  in  the 
midst  of  an  alien  and  far  more  numerous  subject 
people,  and  wished  for  a  legal  title.  The  Popes,  un- 
able to  acquire  actual  possession,  did  have,  thanks  to 
the  Donation  of  Constantine,  a  legal  title,  derived, 
so  they  claimed,  from  the  original  source  of  legal 
titles,  the  Roman  Empire.  The  mode  of  agreement 
was  obvious;  the  Popes  conferred  Southern  Italy  and 
Sicily  as  feuds  upon  their  liegemen  the  Norman 
chiefs,  and  they  in  return  acknowledged  the  Popes 
as  their  lords  suzerain.  In  this  manner,  "  by  the 
grace  of  God  and  St.  Peter,"  the  Normans  founded 
the  kingdom  of  the  Two  Sicilies,  which  for  centuries 
after  the  Norman  line  died  out  continued  to  acknow- 
ledge the  overlordship  of  the  Papacy.  The  Normans 
were  often  disobedient  vassals,  but  they  knew  that 
the  Empire  regarded  them  as  robbers,  and  in  the 
wars  between  Empire  and  Papacy  remained  loyal  to 
their  lords  the  Po]  • 
The   second    papal  ally    was   Countess    Matilda 


94    A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  ITALY 

(1046-1115),  mistress  of  the  Marquisateof  Tuscany 
and  other  domains,  which  stretched  from  the  papa] 
boundaries  up  across  the  Po  to  Lombardy,  and  like 
her  mother,  her  predecessor  in  title,  a  brave,  capable, 
devout  woman.  As  the  Normans  were  a  defence  to 
the  Papacy  on  the  south,  so  these  ladies  constituted 
a  bulwark  on  the  north,  and  often  rendered  incal- 
culable service  to  the  Popes  of  this  period.  Ma- 
tilda's devotion  to  Gregory  was  boundless.  "  Like 
a  second  Martha,  she  ministered  unto  him,  and  as 
Mary  hearkened  unto  Christ,  so  did  she,  attentive 
and  assiduous,  hearken  to  all  the  words  of  the  Holy 
Father."  She  and  her  mother  make  clear  one  source 
of  papal  strength.  They  show  us  the  attitude  of  the 
women,  who,  from  sentiments  of  morality,  piety,  and 
superstition,  took  the  religious  side  of  the  quarrel, 
and  did  not  rest  till  fathers,  brothers,  husbands,  and 
lovers  had  also  espoused  it.  One  act  of  feminine  devo- 
tion fixes  Matilda  in  the  memory.  Her  domains  con- 
sisted of  marquisates,  counties,  baronies,  and  various 
feudal  estates,  held  as  feuds  of  the  Empire,  over  which 
on  her  death  she  had  no  power  of  disposition,  and  also 
of  large  private  estates,  which  she  was  free  to  give 
or  devise.  All  these,  Imperial  feuds  and  private  es- 
tates, she  gave  or  rather  attempted  to  give  to  the 
Church.  This  Donation,  the  most  important  since 
that  of  Charlemagne,  gave  fresh  causes  of  quarrel 
between  Papacy  and  Empire.  The  Papacy  attempted 
to  make  good  its  claim  to  the  Imperial  feuds ;  and 
the  Empire,  finding  it  impossible  to  discover  the 
boundaries  between  the  two  species  of  territories, 
also  claimed  the  whole. 


THE  STRUGGLE  OVER  INVESTITURES      95 

The  third  papal  ally  is  to  be  found  in  the  cities 
of  Lombardy,  which  had  now  become  rich  and  im- 
portant. In  these  cities,  especially  in  Milan,  which 
was  easily  first  commercially  and  politically,  trade 
had  created  a  burgher  class  which  already  gave  evi- 
dence of  a  desire  for  political  power.  In  Milan  itself 
there  was  extreme  political  instability  ;  archbishop, 
nobles,  gentry,  artisans,  and  populace  were  all  ready 
for  a  general  scrimmage  on  the  slightest  provocation. 
The  clergy  were  numerous  and  very  rich  ;  sons  of 
noblemen  held  the  fat  benefices,  and  almost  all  led 
irreligious  lives  and  held  celibacy  in  the  meanest 
esteem.  Simony  was  the  rule.  In  Hildebrand's  time 
the  passion  for  religious  reform  swept  over  the  lower 
classes  of  the  city.  A  new  sect  arose,  the  Patarini 
(ragamuffins),  a  species  of  Puritans,  who  took  up 
the  cry  against  clerical  laxity  and  immorality,  and 
denounced  married  priests.  Religious  excitement  set 
fire  to  social  and  economic  discontent ;  populace  and 
nobles  flew  to  arms ;  there  were  riots  and  civil  war. 
Several  eminent  men,  close  friends  of  Hildebrand, 
me  popular  leaders;  and  the  contest  of  people 
and  Patarini  against  nobles  and  married  clergy  be- 
came  an  episode  in  the  general  strife  between  Papal 
and  [mperial  parties.  Similar  tumults,  caused  half 
bv  class  enmity,  half  l>v  the  passion  for  religions  re- 
form, took  place  iii  other  northern  cities,  Cremona. 
Piacenza,  Pavia,  Padua;  on  one  side  was  the  party 
of  aristocratic  privilege,  looking-  to  the  Emperor  for 

support  ;  on  the  other,  the  party  of  the  people,  look- 
ing to  the  Pope. 

Gregorv's  fourth  ally  was  the   rebellious  nobility 


96  A   SHORT   HISTORY  OF  ITALY 

of  Germany.  Had  Germany  been  united  and  loyal, 
the  German  king  would  easily  have  been  able  to 
assert  his  power  in  Italy  ;  but  Germany  was  disloyal 
and  divided.  Archbishops  of  the  great  archbishop- 
rics, dukes  of  the  great  duchies,  bishops,  counts, 
and  lords,  in  fact,  all  the  component  parts  of  the 
feudal  structure  of  Germany,  were  jealous  of  one 
another ;  each  grudged  the  other  his  possessions, 
and  were  in  accord  only  in  jealousy  of  the  royal' 
power.  There  were  always  some  barons  or  bishops 
thankful  to  have  the  Pope's  name  and  the  Pope's  aid 
in  a  rebellious  design.  These  animosities  the  Papacy 
through  its  thousand  hands  diligently  fomented. 

Ranged  against  Gregory  and  his  allies  were  the 
loyal  parts  of  Germany,  the  Imperial  adherents  in 
Italy,  the  married  clergy  everywhere,  and  all  whom 
Gregory's  reforms  had  angered  and  estranged.  At 
their  head  was  a  dissipated  young  king,  of  high 
spirit,  headstrong,  ignorant,  and  superstitious,  who 
entertained  lofty  notions  of  his  royal  and  Imperial 
prerogatives.  The  characters  of  these  two  men  would 
have  brought  them  into  collision,  even  if  the  irrecon- 
cilable natures  of  Empire  and  Papacy  had  not  ren- 
dered a  clash  inevitable. 

Gregory,  almost  immediately  after  his  elevation 
to  the  pontificate,  held  a  council  and  denounced 
simony,  marriage  of  the  clergy,  and  lay  investiture. 
The  king,  who  believed  in  the  existing  system, 
continued  to  exercise  what  he  deemed  his  royal  rights 
with  a  view  to  improving  his  political  position. 
Gregory  held  a  second  council  and  utterly  forbade 
lay  investiture.    Henry  continued  to  disobey.    Then 


THE  STRUGGLE  OVER  INVESTITURES      97 

Gregory  wrote  to  him  that  he  must  renounce  the 
claim  of  investiture,  and  humbly  present  himself 
in  person  before  the  papal  presence  and  beg  abso- 
lution for  his  sins ;  or,  if  he  should  fail  to  obey, 
Gregory  would  excommunicate  him.  Henry  and  his 
party,  now  very  angry,  retorted  by  holding  a  Ger- 
man synod,  which  charged  Gregory  with  all  sorts  of 
offences,  moral,  ecclesiastical,  and  political,  absolved 
both  king  and  bishops  from  their  papal  allegiance, 
and.  finally,  deposed  the  Pope.  Henry  himself  wrote 
Gregory  this  letter  :  — 

"  Henry,  not  by  usurpation,  but  by  God's  holy 
will,  King,  to  Hildebrand,  no  longer  Pope,  but  false 
monk  :  — 

M  This  greeting  you  have  deserved  from  the  con- 
fusion you  have  caused,  for  in  every  rank  of  the 
Church  you  have  brought  confusion  instead  of  hon- 
our, a  curse  instead  of  a  blessing.  Out  of  much  I  shall 
say  but  a  little  ;  you  have  not  only  not  feared  to 
touch  the  rulers  of  the  Holy  Church,  archbishops, 
bishops,  priests,  God's  anointed,  but  as  if  they  were 
si  tves,  you  have  trampled  them  down  under  your  feet. 
By  trampling  them  down  you  have  got  favour  from 
the  nilgai  mouth.  You  have  decided  that  they  know 
nothing,  and  that  you  alone  know  everything,  and 
you  have  studied  to  use  your  knowledge  not  to  build 
Up  but  to  <lr>troy.    .    .    .  We  have  borne  all  this  and 

have  striven  to  maintain  the  honour  of  the  Apostolic 
Bui  you  have  construed  our  humiliti  as  fear, 

and    for   that    reason  you  have  not   feared  to  rise  up 

our  royal  power,  and  have  even  dared  to 

threaten   that  you  would   take  it  from  us;  as  if  we 


98  A    SHORT    HISTORY   OF    ITALY 

had  received  our  kingdom  from  you,  as  if  kingdom 
and  empire  were  in  your  hands  and  not  in  God's. 
Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  has  called  us  to  the  kingdom, 

I. in  not  von  t<>  the  priesthood.  You  have  mounted 
h\  these  Bteps;  by  craft  —  abominahle  in  a  monk 
\mi  have  come  into  money,  by  money  to  favour, 
1>\  favour  to  the  sword,  by  the  sword  to  the  seat  of 
peace,  and  from  the  seat  of  peace  you  have  con- 
founded peace.  You  have  armed  subjects  against 
i  hose  over  them ;  you,  the  unelect,  have  held  our 
lollops,  elect  of  God, up  to  contempt.  .  .  .  Me, even, 
who  though  unworthy  am  the  anointed  king,  you 
have  touched,  and  although  the  holy  fathers  have 
taught  that  a  king  may  be  judged  by  God  only, 
and  for  no  offence  except  deviation  from  the  faith 
—  which  God  forbid  —  you  have  asserted  that  I 
should  be  deposed;  when  even  Julian  the  Apostate 
was  left  by  the  wisdom  of  the  holy  fathers  to  be 
judged  and  deposed  by  God  only..  That  true  Pope, 
blessed  Peter,  says : '  Fear  God,  honour  the  king.'  But 
you  do  not  fear  God  and  you  dishonour  me  appointed 
by  Him.  And  blessed  Paul,  who  did  not  spare  an 
angel  from  heaven  who  should  preach  other  doctrine, 
did  not  except  you,  here  on  earth,  who  now  teach 
other  doctrine.  For  he  says,  '  But  though  we,  or 
an  angel  from  heaven,  preach  any  other  gospel  unto 
you  than  that  which  we  have  preached  unto  you,  let 
him  be  accursed/  You  therefore  by  Paul  anathema- 
tized, by  the  judgment  of  all  our  bishops  and  by  mine 
condemned,  come  down,  leave  the  apostolic  seat  which 
you  have  usurped;  let  another  mount  the  throne  of 
blessed  Peter,  who  shall  not  cloak  violence  with  reli- 


THE  STRUGGLE  OVER  INVESTITURES     99 

gion,  but  shall  teach  the  sound  doctrine  of  blessed 
Peter.    I,  Henry,  King  by  God's  grace,  and  all  our 

bishops,  say  to  you,  Down,  down,  you  damned  for- 

"  i 
ever. 

To  the  action  of  the  German  synod  and  to  this 
letter  there  could  be  but  one  answer.  Gregory  held 
a  synod,  excommunicated  the  king,  and  released  his 
subjects  from  their  allegiance.  The  Germans  rose  in 
rebellion,  taking  the  excommunication  as  a  ground 
or  perhaps  as  a  pretext ;  they  held  a  great  council  in 
presence  of  a  papal  legate,  and  decided  that  they 
would  renounce  their  allegiance  unless  the  king  ob- 
tained absolution.  The  king,  too  weak  to  cope  with 
the  rebels,  submitted.  He  crossed  the  Alps  with 
his  wife  and  one  or  two  servants,  in  midwinter, 
and  came  to  the  fortress  of  Canossa,  near  Parma, 
a  stronghold  belonging  to  the  Countess  Matilda, 
whither  Gregory  had  gone.  For  three  days  the  king 
stood  outside  the  gates,  dressed  as  a  penitent,  and 
begged  for  leave  to  present  himself  before  the  Pope. 
At  last,  owing  to  the  entreaties  of  Matilda,  the  king 
was  admitted.  He  cast  himself  upon  the  ground  be- 
fore Gregory,  who  lifted  him  up  and  bade  him  sub- 
mit to  the  ordeal  of  the  eucharist.  Gregory  took  the 
consecrated  wafer  and  said,  "  If  I  am  guilty  of  the 
crimes  charged  against  me,  may  God  strike  me."  He 
limke  and  ate;  then  turning  to  Henry,  said,  "Do 
thou,  my  son,  as   I  have   done."    The    king   did    not 

dare  to  invoke  the  judgmenl  of  God  ;  he  humbled 
himself,  resigned   his  crown  into  Gregory's  hands, 

and    swore    to    remain    a    private    person     until    he 
1  S>lirt  Afediccval  Documents,  Shatter  Mathews,  translated. 


100         A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

Bhould  be   judged  bj  a  council.   He  was  then  ab- 
solved  I  L077). 

Various  events  followed  this  terrible  humiliation. 
The  German  rebels  set  up  an  anti-king,  and  the 
king's  men  set  up  an  anti-pope,  and  there  was  war 
and  hatred  everywhere.  The  king's  energy  triumphed 
tor  a  time  ;  he  even  captured  Rome,  and  had  it  not 
been  for  a  Norman  army,  which  came  to  the  Pope's 
rescue,  he  would  have  captured  Gregory,  too.  But, 
despite  royal  triumphs  the  scene  at  Canossa  had 
struck  the  majesty  of  the  Empire  an  irretrievable 
blow  ;  the  king  of  the  Germans,  Emperor  except  for 
a  coronation,  had  admitted  in  a  most  dramatic  way, 
before  all  Europe,  the  inferiority  of  the  temporal  to 
the  spiritual  power. 

Gregory  died  in  exile  at  Salerno,  Henry  died  de- 
posed by  his  rebellious  son ;  and  the  question  of 
lav  investiture  still  remained  unsettled.  More  deeds 
of  violence  were  done,  more  oaths  broken,  more 
lives  taken  ;  at  last  an  agreement  was  reached  and 
the  long  contest  closed.  Papacy  and  Empire  made 
a  treaty  of  peace,  known  as  the  Concordat  of 
Worms  (1122).  The  Emperor  renounced  all  claim 
to  invest  bishops  with  ring  and  staff,  and  recog- 
nized the  freedom  of  election  and  of  ordination 
of  the  clergy,  thus  giving  up  all  claim  to  appoint 
bishops  and  other  ecclesiastical  dignitaries.  The 
Pope  agreed  that  the  election  of  bishops  should 
take  place  in  presence  of  the  Emperor  or  his  repre- 
sentative, and  that  bishops  should  receive  their  fiefs 
in  a  separate  ceremony,  by  touch  of  the  royal  scep- 
tre, in    token  of   holding  them  from  the  Empire. 


THE  STRUGGLE  OVER  INVESTITURES     101 

This  compromise,  which  seems  absurdly  simple,  as 
settled  questions  often  do,  was  a  final  adjustment  of 
the  immediate  quarrel  between  Empire  and  Papacy, 
but  left  the  larger  matter  of  mastery  still  to  be 
fought  out. 


CHAPTER   XI 

TRADE  AGAINST  FEUDALISM  (1152-1190) 

The,  last  chapter  dealt  with  the  struggle  between 
the  two  great  mediaeval  institutions,  the  Empire  and 
tlic  Papacy.  This  deals  with  the  contest  between  the 
Empire,  representing  the  feudal  system,  and  a  new 
social  force,  the  spirit  of  trade,  represented  by  the 
Lombard  cities.  Naturally  the  Papacy  joined  in  the 
fray  and  sided  with  the  Lombard  cities  ;  and,  before 
the  end,  all  Italy  was  divided  into  two  great  parties 
designated  by  terms  derived  from  Germany  :  Guelfs, 
which  indicated  those  opposed  to  the  Empire,  and 
Ghibellines,  which  indicated  friends  to  the  Empire. 
But  the  particular  issue  here  fought  out  was  that 
between  feudalism  and  trade,  and  the  triumph  of 
trade  indicates  the  close  of  the  Middle  Ages. 

The  Emperor  Frederick  I  (1152-90)  of  the  great 
house  of  Hohenstaufen  is  the  hero  of  this  period. 
He  was  a  noble  specimen  of  the  knight  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  such  as  Sir  Walter  Scott  conceived  a 
knight  to  be.  He  had  a  bright,  open  countenance, 
fair  hair,  that  curled  a  little  on  his  forehead,  and 
a  red  beard  (Barbarossa)  which  impressed  the  Ital- 
ian imagination.  Valiant,  resolute,  energetic,  boun- 
tiful in  almsgiving,  attentive  to  religious  duties, 
he  was  a  kind  friend  and  a  stern  enemy.  To 
his  misfortune  he  was  born  too  late ;  he  belonged 


TRADE   AGAINST   FEUDALISM  103 

to  a  chivalric  generation  out  of  place  in  a  world 
which  had  begun  to  deem  buying  and  selling  mat- 
ters of  greater  consequence  than  chivalry  and  cru- 
sades. He  thought  himself  entitled  to  all  the  Im- 
perial  rights  that  had  been  exercised  by  the  Ottos ; 
and,  measuring  his  own  prerogatives  by  their  stan- 
dard, resolved  to  make  good  the  deficiencies  of 
his  immediate  predecessors,  who  for  one  reason  or 
another  had  neglected  to  assert  those  prerogatives 
in  their  plenitude.  Barbarossa's  situation  may  be 
compared  to  that  of  Charles  I  of  England,  who 
believed  himself  lawful  heir  to  all  the  prerogatives 
of  the  Tudors. 

Opposed  to  these  old-fashioned  views  was  the 
hard-headed  spirit  of  commercial  Italy.  Barbarossa's 
particular  enemies  were  the  Lombard  cities,  but  that 
was  because  they  were  nearest  to  him.  The  same 
mercantile  spirit  animated  all  the  cities  of  the  pen- 
insula ;  in  fact,  it  pervaded  the  maritime  cities  before 
it  pervaded  the  Lombard  cities,  and  can  best  be  de- 
scribed by  means  of  a  description  of  them. 

The  southern  cities  bloomed  earlier  than  their 
northern  sisters.  Amalfl,  now  a  little  fishing1  village 
which  clings  to  the  steep  slopes  of  the  Gulf  of  Sa- 
lerno, in  the  eleventh  century  was  an  independent 
republic  of  50,000  inhabitants.  She  traded  with 
Sicily,  Egypt,  Syria,  and  Arabia;  she  decked  her 
women  with  the  ornaments  of  the  East;  she  built 
monasteries  at  Jerusalem,  also  a  hospital  from  which 
the  Knights  Hospitallers  of  St.  John  took  their 
name;  Bhe  gave  a  maritime  code  to  the  Mediter- 
ranean  and  Ionian  seas,  and  circulated   coin  of  her 


104         A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

own  minting  throughout  the  Levant.  Salerno,  her 
near  neighbour,  had  already  become  famous  for  her 
knowledge  of  medicine,  acquired  from  the  Arabs. 
The  speculations  of  her  physicians  upon  the  medici- 
nal properties  of  herbs  went  all  over  Europe.  She 
abounded  in  attractions.  Vineyards,  apple  orchards, 
nut  trees,  flourished  round  about  the  city  ;  within 
there  were  handsome  palaces;  "the  women  did  not 
lack  beauty,  nor  the  men  honesty."  The  Normans 
must  have  found  themselves  very  comfortable.  Na- 
ples, Gaeta,  and  the  Greek  cities  of  the  heel  and 
toe  were  also  important  and  prosperous.  But  these 
southern  cities  were  soon  outdone  by  their  sturdier 
northern  rivals,  Pisa,  Genoa,  Venice. 

Pisa,  which  now  lies  at  the  mouth  of  the  Arno 
like  a  forsaken  mermaid  on  the  shore,  is  said  to  have 
been  a  free  commune  before  the  year  900.  She 
traded  east  and  west ;  she  waged  wrars  with  the  Sara- 
cens, drove  them  from  Sardinia,  captured  the  Bale- 
aric Islands  (1114),  and  carried  the  war  into  Africa. 
Rich  with  booty  and  commercial  gains,  she  erected 
(according  to  a  traveller's  estimate)  ten  thousand 
towers  within  the  city  walls,  completed  her  dome- 
crowned,  many-columned,  queenly  cathedral,  and 
built  the  attendant  baptistery,  within  whose  marble 
walls  musical  notes  rise  and  fall,  circle  and  swell, 
as  if  angels  were  singing  in  mid-air.  She  received 
many  privileges  from  the  Emperors  ;  her  maritime 
i's  were  to  be  respected;  she  was  to  enact  her 
own  laws,  and  to  judge  her  citizens.  No  Imperial 
Marquess  was  to  enter  Tuscany  until  he  had  received 
approval  from  twelve  men  of  Pisa,  to  be  elected  at 


TRADE   AGAINST   FEUDALISM  105 

a  public  meeting,  called  together  by  the  city's  bells 
(1085).  She  spread  her  power  in  the  Levant.  Jaffa, 
Acre,  Tripoli,  Antioch  were  in  great  part  under  her 
dominion,  and  her  factories  were  scattered  along:  the 
coasts  of  Syria  and  Asia  Minor. 

Further  to  the  north,  mounting  hillward  from  her 
curving  bay,  lay  Genoa  the  Proud,  who  for  a  time 
was  Pisa's  ally  against  the  Saracens,  and  then  be- 
came her  rival  and  enemy.  Genoa,  too,  was  devoted 
to  commerce  and  established  settlements  in  Constan- 
tinople, in  the  Crimea,  in  Cyprus  and  Syria,  in  Ma- 
jorca and  Tunis.  She,  too,  had  obtained  from  the 
Empire  a  charter  of  municipal  privileges  and  was  a 
republic,  free  in  all  but  name. 

Venice,  their  greater  sister,  first  rivalled  and  then 
surpassed  both  Pisa  and  Genoa.  She  traces  her  ori- 
gin to  the  men  who  fled  from  the  mainland  in  fear 
of  Attila  and  sought  refuge  on  the  marshy  islands  of 
the  coast  (452).  In  later  days  others  fled  before  the 
Lombards,  and  joined  the  descendants  of  the  earlier 
refugees.  Here,  under  the  nominal  government  of 
the  Eastern  Empire,  the  Venetians  gradually  devel- 
oped strength  and  independence,  and  took  into  their 
own  bands  the  election  of  their  Doge  (097).  The 
city  of  tin-  Rivo  Alto,  the  Venice  of  to-day,  was 
begun  about  800.  Thirty  years  later  the  body  of 
St.  Mark  the  Evangelist  was  brought  from  Alexan- 
dria, and  the  foundations  of  St.  Mark's  basilica  were 
laid  over  bis  bones.  Politically  Venice  maintained 
her  allegiance,  shifting  and  time-serving  though  it 
was,  tint-  to  Constantinople,  not   from  sentiment,  but 

because  Constantinople  was  the  first  city  in  the  world, 


106        A    SHORT    HISTORY    OF    ITALY 

tin-  centre  of  art,  of  luxury,  of  commerce.  Indeed, 
Venice  was  like  a  daughter  or  younger  sister  to 
Constantinople  ;  all  her  old  monuments,  her  mosaics, 
her  sculpture,  her  marble  columns,  show  her  Byzantine 
inclinations.  She  took  an  active  part  in  the  Crusades, 
furnished  transports  and  supplies,  and  mixed  reli- 
gion, war,  and  commerce  in  one  profitable  whole. 

These  maritime  cities  constantly  fought  one  an- 
other; Pisa  destroyed  Amalfi,  Genoa  ruined  Pisa, 
and  Venice  finally  crippled  Genoa.  The  glory  they 
won  was  by  individual  effort ;  whereas  the  glory  of 
the  Lombard  cities  is  that  they  effected  a  union, 
tardy  indeed  and  imperfect,  but  successful  at  last  in 
its  purpose  of  enforcing  their  liberties  against  the 
Imperial  claims.  These  Lombard  cities  included  in 
their  respective  dominions  the  country  round  about, 
and  were,  in  fact,  except  for  a  negligent  Imperial 
control,  little  independent  republics.  It  has  been 
a  matter  of  long  dispute  whether  these  communes 
were  survivals  from  old  Roman  times,  or  sprung 
from  the  love  of  independence  brought  in  by  the 
Teutonic  invaders;  whatever  their  origin  they  vir- 
tually began  with  trade,  rested  upon  trade,  and  flour- 
ished with  trade.  This  trade,  which,  beginning  be- 
tween neighbouring  cities,  extended  northward  over 
the  Alps,  was  greatly  aided  by  the  maritime  cities. 
Ships  called  for  cargoes.  The  stimulus  imparted  by 
the  energy  of  Venetian,  Genoese,  and  Pisan  seamen 
to  manufactures  and  transalpine  trade  was  felt  in 
every  Lombard  city.  For  instance,  the  Venetians, 
eager  to  carry  a  wider  range  of  merchandise  over- 
sea to  Alexandria  or  Jaffa,  held  fairs  in  the  inland 


TRADE   AGAINST  FEUDALISM         107 

cities,  exposed  the  wares  they  had  fetched  home,  and 
stirred  mercantile  industry.  A  burgher  class  of 
traders  and  artisans  grew  up.  Men  met  in  the  mar- 
ket-place, talked  business,  considered  ways  and  means, 
discussed  the  conditions  of  production  and  exchange, 
and  became  a  shrewd,  capable  class.  The  moment 
business  expanded  beyond  the  city  walls,  it  bumped 
into  feudal  rights  at  every  corner ;  at  every  cross- 
road it  found  itself  enmeshed  in  feudal  prerogatives 
aud  privileges.  Trade  could  not  endure  a  system 
fitted  only  for  a  farming  community.  Trade  took 
men  into  politics ;  and  in  those  days  politics  meant 
war.  The  citizens  of  Milan,  Pavia,  and  neighbouring 
cities  were  not  wholly  unused  to  civic  rights,  for  they 
had  long  had  a  voice  in  the  election  of  bishops,  and 
they  had  their  trade  guilds.  These  rights  they  en- 
larged whenever  they  got  a  chance ;  and  chances 
came  frequently  in  the  quarrels  between  Emperor 
and  archbishop,  or  between  the  greater  and  lesser 
nobility.  Both  sides  wanted  their  support ;  and  they 
sold  it  in  exchange  for  privileges,  here  a  little,  there 
a  little,  and  obtained  many  concessions.  Finally,  after 
the  burghers  had  advanced  in  wealth  and  social  con- 
sideration.  the  petty  nobles  made  common  cause  with 
tht'in  ;  and  tin-  two  combined  succeeded  in  forcing  the 
great  lords  to  join  also,  and  make  one  general  civic 
union.    These  great  lords,  who  had  been  little  tyrants 

in  the  country  roundabout,  were  compelled  to  live 

within  the  eitv  walls  tor  part  of  the  year  and  be  hos- 

3  lor  their   own  good    hehaviour,  and   were  thus 

converted  from  enemies  into  leading  citizens.   The 

Consequence   of  these  changes  was   that  the  former 


108         A    SHORT    HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

government  by  a  bishop,  which  in  course  of  time  had 
Bupplanted  the  old  Carlovingian  system  of  govern- 
ment by  a  count,  was  superseded  in  its  turn  by 
a  much  more  popular  form  of  government.  The 
bishop's  authority  was  narrowly  limited,  the  execu- 
tive power  was  lodged  in  consuls,  two  or  more,  who 
were  elected  annually,  and  the  legislative  power  was 
placed  in  a  general  council  of  the  burghers  (in 
Milan  not  more  than  fifteen  hundred  men),  and  in 
a  small  inner  council,  which  represented  the  aristo- 
cratic element.  By  Barbarossa's  time  the  govern- 
ment of  the  cities  had  ceased  to  be  feudal,  and  had 
become  communal.  There  was  inevitable  antago- 
nism between  Lombardy  and  the  Holy  Roman  Em- 
pire. The  league  of  Lombard  cities  embodied  the 
revolt  of  trade  against  the  feudal  system,  of  mer- 
chants against  uncertain  and  excessive  taxes,  of 
burghers  against  foreign  princes,  in  short,  general 
discontent  with  an  outgrown  political  system. 

Barbarossa's  war  with  the  Lombard  cities  lasted 
for  twenty-five  years,  and  for  convenience  may  be 
divided  into  two  periods,  —  the  period  before  the 
cities  had  learnt  the  lesson  of  union  and  the  period 
after.  So  long  as  they  were  divided  by  mutual  dis- 
trust and  jealousy,  Barbarossa  was  victorious  ;  when 
they  were  united  they  conquered  him. 

Barbarossa  made  his  first  expedition  across  the 
Alps  in  answer  to  appeals  that  had  been  made  to 
him  from  various  parts  of  Italy.  Como  and  Lodi 
complained  of  Milan  ;  the  Popes  complained  of  the 
insubordinate  Romans,  who  had  set  up  a  republic 
and  were  going  crazy  over  an  heretical  republican 


TRADE   AGAINST   FEUDALISM  109 

priest,  one  Arnold  of  Brescia ;  the  lord  of  the  little 
city  of  Capua  complained  of  the  Norman  king. 
Barbarossa,  with  his  lofty  notions  of  Imperial  au- 
thority and  Imperial  duty,  gathered  together  an 
army  and  descended  into  Italy  to  settle  all  troubles. 
He  began  by  issuing  orders  to  Milan  with  regard  to 
her  conduct  towards  Como  and  Lodi.  Milan  shut 
her  gates.  The  proud  city  and  the  proud  Emperor 
were  at  swords'  points  in  a  moment.  A  letter  from 
Barbarossa  from  his  camp  near  Milan,  written  to  his 
uncle,  Otto  of  Freysing,  briefly  narrates  the  circum- 
stances :  "  The  Milanese,  tricky  and  proud,  came  to 
meet  us  with  a  thousand  disloyal  excuses  and  rea- 
sons, and  offered  us  great  sums  of  money  if  we 
would  grant  them  sovereignty  over  Como  and  Lodi ; 
and  because,  without  letting  ourselves  be  swayed  one 
jot  by  their  prayers  or  by  their  offers,  we  marched 
into  their  territory,  they  kept  us  away  from  their 
rich  lands  and  made  us  pass  three  whole  days  in  the 
midst  of  a  desert ;  until  at  last,  against  their  wish, 
we  pitched  our  camp  one  mile  from  Milan.  Here, 
after  they  had  refused  provisions  for  which  we  had 
offered  to  pay,  we  took  possession  of  one  of  their 
•  castles,  defended  by  five  hundred  horsemen, 
and  reduced  it  to  ashes;  and  our  cavalry  advanced 
to  the  gates  of  Milan  and  killed  many  Milanese  and 
took    many   prisoners.    Then    open  war  broke  out 

between    OS.     Wln-n  we   crossed    the    river  Ticino    in 

order  to  go  to   Novara,  we  captured  two  bridges 

which  they  had   fortified  With  castles,  and   alter  the 

army  had  crossed,  destroyed  them.   Then  we  dis- 
mantled three  of  their  fortresses   .   .   .   and  after  we 


110         A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF  ITALY 

had  celebrated  Christinas  with  great  merriment,  we 
marched  by  way  of  Vercelli  and  Turin  to  the  Po ; 
we  crossed  the  river  and  destroyed  the  strong  city 
of  (  liicii.  and  burned  Asti.  This  done,  we  laid  siege 
to  Tort  una.  most  strongly  fortified  both  by  art  and 
nature;  and  on  the  third  day,  having  captured  the 
Buburbs,  we  should  easily  have  carried  the  citadel,  if 
night  and  stormy  weather  had  not  prevented  us.  At 
last,  after  many  assaults,  many  killed,  and  a  piteous 
slaughter  of  citizens,  we  forced  the  citadel  to  sur- 
render, not  without  losing  a  number  of  our  men." ' 

Such  vigour  as  this  reduced  Milan  and  her  sister 
cities  to  obedience.  But  Frederick  was  not  content 
with  raids  into  Italy  and  spasmodic  punishment 
administered  to  this  rebellious  city  or  to  that ;  he 
wished  to  have  the  Imperial  rights  and  authority 
definitely  settled  on  a  permanent  basis ;  so  he  con- 
voked a  diet  on  the  plain  of  Roncaglia,  not  far  from 
Piacenza,  to  which  he  summoned  bishops,  dukes, 
marquesses,  counts,  and  other  nobles  of  the  realm, 
four  famous  jurists  from  Bologna,  and  two  repre- 
sentatives from  each  of  fourteen  Lombard  cities. 
Frederick  was  a  just  -man  ;  he  merely  wished  his 
legal  rights,  and  proposed  to  ascertain  what  those 
rights  were.  The  determination  was  left  to  the  law- 
yers. 

By  this  time  lawyers  had  already  begun  to  play  a 
part  in  public  affairs.  Roman  law  had  never  been 
lost.  For  centuries  it  had  remained  side  by  side  with 
the  customs  of  the  conquering  Barbarians,  less  as 
a  code  of  laws  than  as  the  tradition  of  the  subject 

1  Storia  a"  Italia,  Cappelletti,  pp.  99,  100. 


TKADE   AGAINST   FEUDALISM         111 

Latin  people ;  and,  when  the  needs  of  quickening 
civilization  required  a  more  elaborate  system  of  law 
than  custom  could  supply,  there  was  the  Roman 
law  ready  for  use.  It  suddenly  leaped  into  general 
interest,  and  rivalled  the  Church  as  a  career  for 
young  men.  St.  Bernard  complained  that  the  law 
of  Justinian  was  ousting  the  law  of  God.  In  1088 
the  great  law  school  of  Bologna  had  been  founded. 
Thither  students  crowded  by  thousands ;  and  the 
opinions  of  its  jurists  were  received  with  the  deepest 
respect. 

At  Roncaglia  the  body  of  lawyers  appointed  to 
determine  Imperial  rights,  decided,  doubtless  in  ac- 
cordance with  Barbarossa's  expectation,  in  favour 
of  the  Imperial  side.  The  feudal  nobles  were  de- 
lighted. The  archbishop  of  Milan,  the  recognized 
head  of  the  Lombard  nobility,  said  to  the  Emperor  : 
"Know  that  every  right  in  the  people  to  make  laws 
has  been  granted  to  you ;  your  will  is  law,  as  it  is 
said,  Quod  Principi  placuit  legis  habet  vigorem 
[The  Emperor's  will  has  the  force  of  law],  since  the 
people  have  granted  to  you  all  authority  and  sov- 
ereignty." In  accordance  with  the  spirit  of  this 
principle,  the  regalia,  tolls,  taxes,  forfeits,  and  ex- 
action^ df  various  kinds,  were  defined,  and  the  right 

to  appoint  the  executive  magistrates  in  the  communes 
adjudged  to  tin-  Emperor.  In  substance  the  decision 
of  the  jurists  was  the  restoratioD  of  the  Imperial 

rights  a-  they  had  been    under  the  Ottos,  when  the 

communes  were  in  their  infancy. 

Fred. -lick's  Legal  triumph  was  complete,  but  Buch 
a  decision  could  only  be   sustained   by  force.   The 


112         A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

cities  would  not  accept  it;  they  preferred  war.  In 
the  course  of  one  campaign  Milan  was  razed  to  the 
ground  (  1  L62),  BO  literally,  that  Frederick  dated  his 
letters  post  d '<  structiom  m  Mediolani,  "after  the  de- 
struction of  Milan."  But  the  cities  at  last  learned  the 
necessity  of  union  and  stood  shoulder  to  shoulder. 
The  Papacy,  too,  which  had  been  friendly  to  the  Em- 
peror during-  the  insurrections  in  Rome,  turned  round 
and  joined  the  cities  against  him,  and  Frederick,  in 
retaliation,  set  up  an  anti-pope.  Nevertheless,  the 
glory  of  defeating  the  Emperor  belongs  to  the  cities, 
and  not  to  the  Papacy.  The  decisive  battle  was  fought 
near  Milan  on  the  field  of  Legnano  (1176). 

The  arbitrament  of  the  sword  reversed  the  deci- 
sion of  the  lawyers  at  Roncaglia.  Frederick  frankly 
accepted  defeat.  A  ceremonious  conference  was  held 
at  Venice.  At  the  portal  of  St.  Mark's,  Pope  Alex- 
ander III,  no  unworthy  successor  to  Hildebrand, 
raised  up  the  kneeling  Emperor  and  gave  him  the  kiss 
of  peace.  Temporary  terms  were  agreed  on,  and  a 
few  years  later  the  Peace  of  Constance  (1183)  defi- 
nitely closed  the  war.  The  Emperor  relinquished  all 
but  nominal  rights  of  sovereignty  over  the  confed- 
erate cities.  They  were  to  elect  their  municipal  offi- 
cers, and,  with  comparatively  unimportant  excep- 
tions, to  administer  justice  and  manage  their  own 
affairs.  Trade  had  conquered  feudalism.  The  Mid- 
dle Ages  were  near  their  setting. 

No  more  of  Barbarossa's  doings  need  here  be 
chronicled,  except  what  he  deemed  a  brilliant  stroke 
of  diplomacy,  by  which  he  hoped  to  unite  the  crown 
of  the  Two  Sicilies  with  the  Imperial  crown  on  the 


TRADE   AGAINST   FEUDALISM         113 

head  of  his  son,  Henry,  and  through  him  on  the  heads 
of  a  long  line  of  Hohenstaufens.  The  Empire  had 
always  asserted  a  claim  to  Southern  Italy,  but  its  claim 
had  never  been  made  good  except  during  the  tem- 
porary occupation  of  an  Imperial  army ;  and  since 
the  Normans  had  established  their  kinodom,  South- 
ern  Italy  had  not  only  been  lost  to  the  Empire,  but 
had  become  the  chief  prop  of  the  Empire's  enemy, 
the  Papacy.  If  the  Empire  could  acquire  Southern 
Italy,  it  would  hem  in  the  Papacy  both  south  and 
north,  and  crush  it  to  obedience.  Frederick's  son 
Henry  was  married  to  the  heiress  of  the  Norman 
kingdom  (1186);  and  the  good  Emperor,  happy  in 
the  prospect  before  his  Imperial  line,  but  happier  in 
that  he  could  not  foresee  truly,  took  the  cross  and 
led  his  army  towards  the  Holy  Land.  He  died  on 
the  way  (1190),  leaving  behind  him  a  reputation  for 
honour  and  chivalry,  inferior  to  none  left  by  the 
German  Emperors. 


CHAPTER   XII 

TRIUMPH    OF  THE   PAPACY  (1198-1216) 

Gregory  VII  was  well  named  the  Julius  Caesar  of 
the  Papacy.  His  great  conception  of  a  sovereign 
ecclesiastica]  power,  supreme  over  Europe,  was  des- 
tined to  be  realized.  For  in  the  fulness  of  time  came 
Innocent  III,  the  Augustus  Caesar  of  the  Papacy, 
who  ruled  the  civilized  world  of  Europe  more  after 
the  fashion  of  the  old  Roman  Emperors  than  any 
one,  except  Charlemagne,  had  done.  But  in  the  in- 
terval between  these  two  famous  Popes,  there  was 
a  period  of  reaction  in  which  it  looked  for  a  time 
as  if  the  Empire  would  plant  the  Ghibelline  flag  on 
the  papal  citadel.  The  Popes  of  this  period  were 
men  of  no  marked  ability,  whereas  the  young  king, 
Henry  VI,  had  inherited  the  forceful  temper  of  Bar- 
barossa  as  well  as  his  theories  of  Imperial  rights, 
and  displayed  great  vigour,  energy,  and  resolution. 
Despite  the  opposition  of  the  Popes,  who  as  feudal 
suzerains  of  Sicily  were  most  averse  to  the  alliance, 
he  had  married  the  heiress  of  the  Norman  line, 
and  despite  the  fierce  opposition  of  the  Sicilians,  — 
part  Arabs,  part  Greeks,  with  Italians  and  Nor- 
mans mingling  in,  —  he  established  his  authority  in 
the  island.  Henry  was  horribly  cruel,  but  he  was 
efficient.  He  was  King  of  Germany,  King  of  Italy, 
and  King  of  the  Two  Sicilies,  and  had  compelled  a 


TRIUMPH   OF   THE   PAPACY  115 

reluctant  Pope  to  crown  him  Emperor.  He  deter- 
mined to  be  Emperor  in  Italy  in  fact,  and  to  accom- 
plish what  his  father  had  failed  to  do.  He  undertook 
to  check  and  suppress  the  communes  by  reviving 
the  old  feudal  system.  He  reinstated  old  duchies 
and  counties,  and  enfeoffed  his  loyal  Germans.  Mat- 
ters looked  black  for  the  Guelf s,  when,  to*  their  great 
good  luck,  the  fiery  young  Emperor  died,  leaving  an 
incompetent  widow  and  a  helpless  baby  (1197).  By 
one  of  those  occurrences,  in  which  Catholics  see  more 
than  the  hand  of  chance,  in  the  very  year  after  the 
Emperor's  death,  a  man  of  political  talents  of  the 
highest  order  was  elected  to  the  pontifical  chair. 

In  the  days  of  Pope  Alexander  III,  the  great 
antagonist  of  Frederick  Barbarossa,  a  young  noble- 
man, who  took  holy  orders  almost  in  boyhood,  had 
given  early  promise  of  an  extraordinary  career.  This 
handsome,  eloquent,  imperious  boy,  named  Lothair, 
inherited  through  his  father,  Thrasmund  of  the 
Counts  of  Segni  in  Latium,  the  fierce  impetuosity 
of  the  Lombards,  and  through  his  mother,  a  Roman 
lady  of  high  birth  (from  whom  he  took  his  mas- 
ter traits),  the  tenacity,  the  adroitness,  the  political 
genius  of  the  Romans.  He  was  educated  at  the  uni- 
versities of  Bologna  and  Paris,  where  he  studied  law, 
theology,  and  scholastic  philosophy.  The  stormy 
period  of  the  straggle  between  Alexander  and  Bar- 
barossa  brought  character-  and  talents  quickly  t<>  the 
front.  Before  he  was  twenty  he  had  distinguished 
himself,  before  he  was  thirty  he  had  been  made  B 
cardinal,  and  at  thirty-seven  lie  was  elected  Pope. 
According  to  the  practice  instituted  by  the  deposed 


L16         A    SHORT    HISTORY  OF   ITALY 

scamp,  John  XII,  of  taking  a  new  name,  Lothair 
assumed  fche  title  of  Innocent  III. 

Under  the  guidance  of  Innocent  III  (1198-1216), 
fche  Papacy  attained  the  full  meridian  of  its  glory. 
When  this  great  Pope,  lawyer,  theologian,  states- 
man, came  to  the  throne,  it  was  demoralized  and 
weak  ;  before  he  died,  it  had  set  its  yoke  on  the 
neck  of  Europe.  For  the  second  time  in  history, 
orders  were  issued  from  Rome  to  the  whole  civilized 
world.  A  review  of  his  pontificate  brings  up  a 
panorama  of  Europe.  His  task  began  in  Rome. 
This  little  city  of  churches,  monasteries,  towers,  and 
ruins,  which  took  no  pride  in  great  papal  affairs, 
had  plunged  into  one  of  its  fits  of  republican  in- 
dependence, and,  supported  by  the  Emperor,  had 
ousted  the  Popes  from  all  control.  In  the  course  of 
a  few  years,  by  intrigue,  tact,  and  civil  war,  Inno- 
cent got  into  his  own  hands  the  appointment  of  the 
senate  and  of  the  city  governor,  and  thereby  con- 
trol of  the  city.  He  next  turned  his  attention  to 
the  Patrimony  of  St.  Peter,  that  central  strip  from 
Rome  to  Ravenna,  given  or  supposed  to  have  been 
given  by  Pippin  and  Charlemagne  to  the  successors 
of  St.  Peter.  Here  the  impetuous  Emperor,  Henry  VI, 
had  seated  his  German  barons,  setting  up  fiefs  for 
them,  and  reestablishing  the  feudal  system  under 
the  Imperial  suzerainty.  These  German  barons  were 
hated  by  the  people.  Innocent  put  himself  at  the 
head  of  the  popular  discontent,  organized  a  Guelf, 
almost  a  national,  party,  and  either  drove  the  Ger- 
mans out,  or  forced  them  to  swear  allegiance  to  the 
Holy  See. 


TRIUMPH   OF  THE   PAPACY  117 

In  Tuscany  also  the  Guelfs  were  successful  in 
breaking  up  the  feudal  restoration.  In  fact,  since 
the  days  of  Countess  Matilda  feudalism  had  been 
doomed.  The  cities  had  taken  advantage  of  the 
wars  between  Papacy  and  Empire  to  secure  virtual 
independence ;  and  on  Henry's  death,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  Ghibelline  Pisa,  they  banded  together 
and  agreed  never  to  admit  an  Imperial  governor 
within  their  territories.  Innocent  tried  to  bring 
these  cities  under  papal  dominion,  but  they  were 
too  independent,  and  he  was  obliged  to  rest  content 
with  snapping  up  scattered  portions  of  Matilda's  do- 
mains. 

Meantime  in  the  kingdom  of  the  Two  Sicilies  the 
Emperor's  widow  had  died,  and  left  to  Innocent's 
guardianship  her  little  son,  Frederick.  Innocent, 
guardian  and  suzerain  lord,  immediately  began  a 
struggle  with  the  feudal  nobility,  just  as  in  Italy, 
and,  after  a  long  and  difficult  contest,  asserted  the 
authority  of  his  royal  ward.  On  the  termination  of 
the  minority,  he  handed  over  the  kingdom  to  Fred- 
erick, win i.  on  his  part  as  King  of  the  Two  Sicilies, 
swore  fealty  to  the  Pope.  Had  it  not  been  for  his 
honourable  and  powerful  guardian,  Frederick  prob- 
ably would  have  had  no  kingdom,  and  in  his  oath  of 
fealty  be  acknowledged  his  indebtedness:  ''Among 
all  the  wishes   which   we  carry  in   the   front   rank  of 

our  desires,  this  is  the  chief,  to  discharge  a  grateful 
obedience,  to  show  an  honourable  devotion,  and  never 
to  he  found  ungrateful  for  your  benefits —  ( J<»d  forbid 
—  since,  next   to  Divine  Grace,  to  your  protection 

we  are  indebted  not  only  for  land  but  also  for  life." 


118         A    SHORT    HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

In  this  way  Innocent  established  the  Papacy  in 
Italv  :  BOVereign,  suzerain,  protector  or  ally,  he  was 
tin-  head  of  the  Italian  Guelfs  and  practically  of 
Italv.  Let  us  now  look  abroad.  In  Constantinople, 
the  capital  of  the  Greek  Empire,  Innocent's  legate 
bestowed  the  Imperial  purple  upon  an  Emperor. 
An  odd  whirl  of  Fortune's  wheel  brought  this  to 
pass.  Innocent  had  preached  a  crusade  in  the  hope 
of  recovering  the  Holy  Land  from  the  infidels, 
who  had  succeeded  in  expelling  the  Christians. 
An  army  of  Frenchmen  and  Flemings  answered 
his  summons.  They  determined  to  avoid  the  deadly 
route  overland  and  go  by  sea,  and  applied  to  Ven- 
ice for  transportation.  When  they  came  to  pay 
the  bill  they  did  not  have  the  money,  and  the 
Venetians  insisted  that  they  should  help  them  re- 
capture the  city  of  Zara,  on  the  Dalmatian  coast, 
which  had  once  belonged  to  Venice  but  had  been 
lost  again.  Zara  was  attacked  and  taken  (1202). 
One  deflection  from  the  straight  path  of  duty  led  to 
another.  To  Zara  came  the  son  of  the  Greek  Em- 
peror to  say  that  his  father  had  been  deposed,  and 
to  beg  for  help.  The  Venetians,  wishing  to  wound 
two  commercial  rivals  at  once,  Constantinople  and 
Pisa  (for  the  usurping  Emperor  favoured  Pisa),  used 
the  suppliant  as  a  stalking-horse,  and  persuaded 
the  Crusaders  once  again  to  divert  their  immediate 
purpose  and  to  restore  the  deposed  Emperor  to 
his  throne.  Again  the  Crusaders  listened  to  temp- 
tation, for  the  Venetians  baited  their  hook  with 
golden  promises;  they  sailed  to  Constantinople  and 
restored    the    wronged    Emperor.    Matters  did  not 


TRIUMPH   OF   THE    PAPACY  119 

go  smoothly,  however.    Misunderstanding  with  the 

Greeks  led  to  disagreements,  disagreements  to  quar- 
rels, and  quarrels  to  war.  The  Latin  Crusaders 
assaulted  Constantinople,  carried  it  by  storm,  and 
plundered  houses,  palaces,  churches,  shrines,  every- 
thing ;  then,  with  appetites  whetted  by  petty  spoils, 
seized  the  frail  Empire  itself  (1204).  They  di- 
vided Thrace,  Macedonia,  Greece,  the  islands  of  the 
iEgean  Sea,  and  all  the  remnants  of  the  Roman 
Empire  of  the  East  that  they  could  lay  hands  on. 
Pious  Venice  came  out  best ;  she  took  coast  and 
island,  town  and  country,  all  along  from  recaptured 
Zara  round  by  the  shores  of  Dalmatia,  Albania, 
Peloponnesus,  and  Thessaly,  ending  with  half  of 
Constantinople  itself.  The  Marquess  of  Monferrat 
became  King  of  Thessalonica,  and  his  vassal,  a  Bur- 
gundian  count,  was  invested  with  the  lordship  of 
Athens  and  Thebes.  The  Count  of  Flanders  was 
elected  Emperor  of  a  Latin  Empire.  Innocent  had 
been  very  angry  with  the  deflections  to  Zara  and 
Constantinople,  and  had  thundered  against  the  polite 
but  inflexible  Venetians.  When  the  evil  had  been 
done,  however,  he  made  the  best  of  it,  and  behaved 
with  dignity  and  astuteness.  He  rebuked  the  Cru- 
saders for  having  preferred  the  things  of  earth  to 
those  of  Heaven,  and  bade  them  ask  God's  pardon 
for  the  profanation  of  holy  places  j  but  he  admit- 
ted the  advantage  that  would  arise  from  reconciling 
the  Greeks,  schismatics  since  the  days  of  Leo  the 
Iconoclast,  with  the  Roman  See.  So  his  legate  be- 
stowed   the    purple  00   a    suppliant  Emperor  in   the 

city  of  ( lonstantinople. 


1 120         A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

In  Germany  Innocent  also  appears  as  the  giver 
and  withholdei  of  crowns.  On  the  death  of  Henry 
V I  there  was  a  disputed  election.  The  Hohen- 
staufen  party,  dreading  a  long  minority,  passed 
over  the  baby  Frederick,  and  nominated  Philip, 
Henry's  brother ;  the  rival  party,  the  German  Gnelfs, 
nominated  Otto  of  Brunswick,  a  nephew  of  Rich- 
ard Cceur-de-lion.  Civil  war  followed,  and  both  par- 
ties appealed  to  Innocent  who,  after  deliberation, 
supported  Otto,  but  exacted  a  high  price.  Otto  was 
obliged  to  guarantee  to  the  Pope  the  strip  of  terri- 
tory from  Rome  to  Ravenna,  and  those  portions  of 
Matilda's  domains  which  were  not  fiefs  of  the  Em- 
pire, also  to  acknowledge  papal  suzerainty  over  the 
Two  Sicilies,  and  to  promise  to  conform  to  the 
papal  will  with  regard  to  the  leagues  of  the  Lom- 
bard and  Tuscan  cities.  This  guarantee  of  Otto  laid 
the  first  real  foundation  of  the  Papal  States.  Hith- 
erto, vague  Donations  had  given  pretexts  for  claims ; 
but  Otto's  deed  was  a  definite  Imperial  grant,  and 
conveyed  an  unquestionable  title.  In  spite  of  Inno- 
cent's support  matters  went  ill  for  Otto  in  Germany. 
Philip's  star  rose,  and  Innocent,  to  whom  the  cause 
of  the  Papacy  was  the  cause  of  God  and  justified 
diplomatic  conduct,  was  on  the  point  of  shifting  to 
Philip's  side,  when  in  the  nick  of  time  Philip  was 
murdered  (1208).  Otto's  claim  was  now  undisputed. 
No  sooner,  however,  did  he  feel  the  crown  secure  on 
his  head  than  he  shifted  his  ground.  Guelf  by  birth 
though  he  was,  he  found  that  he  could  not  be  both 
obedient  to  the  Pope  and  loyal  to  his  Imperial  du- 
ties.   He  turned  into  a  complete  Ghibelline,  broke 


TRIUMPH   OF  THE   PAPACY  121 

his  grant  to  the  Pope,  attempted  to  restore  the 
feudal  system  in  the  papal  territories,  and  assumed 
to  treat  the  Two  Sicilies  as  a  fief  of  the  Empire. 
Innocent,  outraged  and  indignant  at  this  breach 
of  faith,  excommunicated  him  (1210).  Thereupon, 
as  at  the  time  when  Gregory  VII  excommunicated 
Henry  IV,  the  German  barons  rose,  deposed  Otto, 
and  summoned  young  Frederick  from  Sicily  to  take 
the  German  crown.  Innocent  supported  Frederick's 
cause,  but  exacted  the  price  which  he  had  formerly 
exacted  from  the  perjured  Otto.  Frederick,  pressed 
by  present  need,  and  forgetful  of  Otto's  evil  prece- 
dent, pledged  himself  as  follows :  "  We,  Frederick  the 
Second,  by  Divine  favour  and  mercy,  King  of  the  Ro- 
mans, ever  Augustus,  and  King  of  Sicily  .  .  .  recog- 
nizing the  grace  given  to  us  by  God,  we  have  also 
before  our  eyes  the  immense  and  innumerable  bene- 
fits rendered  by  you,  most  dear  lord  and  reverend 
father,  our  protector  and  benefactor,  lord  Innocent, 
by  God's  grace  most  venerable  Pontili' ;  through 
your  benefaction,  labour,  and  guardianship,  we  have 
been  brought  up,  cherished,  and  advanced,  ever  since 
our  mother,  the  Empress  Constance  of  happy  mem- 
ory,  threw  us  upon  your  care,  almost  from  birth. 
To  you,  most  blessed  father,  and  to  all  your  Catho- 
lic successors,  and  to  the  Holy  Roman  Church,  our 
special  mother,  we  BhaU  discharge  all  obedience, 
honour,  and  reverence,  always  with  an  humble  heart 
and    a    devout    spirit,    as  our  Catholic    predecessors, 

kings  and  Emperors,  are  known  to  have  done  to  your 
predecessors;  doI  a  whit  rrom  these  shall  we  take 

away,  rather  add,  that  our  devotion  may   shine  the 


122         A    SHOET   HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

more."  '  Frederick  promised  that  he  would  not  in- 
terfere in  the*  election  of  bishops,  and  thai  the  can- 
didal canonically  elected  should  be  installed.  He 
confirmed  the  papal  title  to  the  Papal  States.  "I 
\o\v.  promise,  swear,  and  take  my  oath  to  protect 
and  preserve  all  the  possessions,  honours,  and  rights 
of  the  Roman  Church,  in  good  faith,  to  the  best  of 
my  power  "  (1213). 

From  this  time  forward  Frederick  advanced  from 
success  to  success.  Otto  was  driven  into  private  life, 
and  the  Pope's  legate  put  the  German  crown  on 
Frederick's  head  at  Aachen  (1215).  Where  Inno- 
cent blessed,  success  and  prosperity  followed  ;  Avhere 
he  cursed,  death  and  destruction  came. 

Elsewhere  the  Pope  was  equally  triumphant.  All 
Europe  bent  under  his  imperial  decrees.  The  kings 
of  Portugal,  Leon,  Castile,  and  Navarre  were  scolded 
or  punished.  The  King  of  Aragon  went  to  Rome 
and  swore  allegiance.  The  Duke  of  Bohemia  was 
rebuked,  the  King  of  Denmark  comforted,  the  nobles 
of  Iceland  warned,  the  King  of  Hungary  admon- 
ished. Servia,  Bulgaria,  even  remote  Armenia,  re- 
ceived papal  supervision  and  paternal  care.  Philip 
Augustus  of  France,  at  Innocent's  command,  took 
back  the  wife  whom  he  had  repudiated.  John  of 
England  grovelled  on  the  ground  before  him,  and 
yielded  up  "  to  our  lord  the  Pope  Innocent  and  his 
successors,  all  our  kingdom  of  England  and  all  our 
kingdom  of  Ireland  to  be  held  as  a  fief  of  the  Holy 
See"  (1213). 

Another  triumph  of  darker  hue  added  to  the  bril- 

1  Select  Mediceval  Documents,  Mathews,  p.  1-16,  translated. 


TRIUMPH   OF   THE   PAPACY  123 

liance  of  Innocent's  career.  In  the  south  of  France, 
in  the  pleasant  places  of  Provence  and  Languedoc, 
where  troubadours  praised  love  and  war,  and  lords 
and  ladies  wandered  down  primrose  paths,  the  hum- 
bler folk  got  hold  of  certain  dangerous  ideas.  They 
believed  that  there  was  a  power  of  evil  as  well  as 
a  power  of  good,  that  Christ  was  but  an  emanation 
from  God,  that  the  God  of  the  Jews  was  not  the  real 
God  of  Goodness,  and,  worse  than  all,  that  the  Ro- 
man Church,  with  its  sacerdotalism,  forms,  sacra- 
ments, and  ritual,  was,  to  say  the  least,  not  what 
it  should  be.  Innocent  entertained  no  doubts  that 
the  Roman  Church  had  been  founded  by  God  to 
maintain  His  truth  on  earth  ;  as  a  statesman  he  re- 
garded heresy  as  we  regard  treason  and  anarchy  ; 
as  a  priest  he  deemed  it  sin.  He  called  Simon  of 
Montfort  and  other  dogs  of  war  from  the  north 
and  urged  them  at  the  quarry.  The  heresy  was 
put  down  in  blood.  Here  appears  the  black  figure 
of  St.  Dominic,  encouraging  the  faithful,  rally- 
ing the  hesitant,  and  by  the  fervour  of  his  belief, 
by  his  devotion,  by  his  genius  for  organization, 
more  destructive  to  heresy  than  the  sword  of 
Montfort. 

Thu^  Innocent  sat  supreme.  He  had  created  a 
papal  kingdom  where  his  predecessors  had  asserted 
impotent  claims;  be  had  confirmed  the  Two  Sicilies 
in  their  dependency  upon  the  Holy  See;  be  bad  put 
the  Papacy  at  the  head  of  the  Gnelf  party  in  Italy, 

and    had    made   that    part  v  almost    national;   he   had 

enforced  the  power  of  the  Church  throughout  Eu- 
rope, had  given  crowns  to  the  Kings  of  A.ragon  and  of 


124         A    SHORT    HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

England,  fco  fche  Emperors  of  Germany  and  of  Con- 
stant inople.  No  such  spectacle  had  been  seen  since 
tin-  reign  of  Charlemagne j  none  such  was  to  be 
Been  again  till  the  coming  of  Napoleon.  The  con- 
ception of  Europe  as  an  ecclesiastical  organization 
had  leached  its  fullest  expression. 


CHAPTER   XIII 

ST.  FRANCIS  (1182-122G) 

In  spite  of  the  dazzling  success  achieved  by  Innocent, 
matters  were  not  well  with  the  Church  in  Italy.  Cor- 
ruption threatened  it  from  within,  heresy  from  with- 
out. Simony  was  rampant;  livings  were  almost  put 
up  at  auction.  Innocent  asserted  that  there  was  no 
cure  but  fire  and  steel.  The  prelates  of  the  Roman 
Curia  were  "  tricky  as  foxes,  proud  as  bulls,  greedy  and 
insatiable  as  the  Minotaur."  The  priests  were  often 
shameless ;  some  became  usurers  to  get  money  for 
their  bastards,  others  kept  taverns  and  sold  wine.  Wor- 
ship had  become  a  vain  repetition  of  formulas.  The 
monks  were  superstitious,  many  of  them  disreputable. 
The  inevitable  consequence  of  this  decay  in  the  Church 
was  heresy.  Italy  was  nearly,  if  not  quite,  as  badly 
honeycombed  with  heretics  as  Languedoc  had  been. 
The  Patarini,  whom  we  remember  in  Hildebrand's 
time,  now  become  a  species  of  heretics,  abounded  in 
Milan  ;  other  sects  sprang  up  in  towns  near  by.  In 
Ferrara,  Verona,  Rimini,  Faenza,  Treviso,  Florence, 
Prato,  anti-sacerdotal  sentiment  was  very  strong.  In 
Viterbo  tin-  heretics  \\<av  numerous  enough  to  elect 

their   consul.    At  Piacenza   priests  had    been  driven 

out,  ami  tie-  city  left  anshepherded  for  three  years. 
In  Orvieto  there  had  been  grave  disorders.  In  Assisi 
a  heretic  had  been  elected  podestd  (governor). 


126         A    SHORT    HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

The  inv.it  Innocent  knitted  his  brows;  be  knew 
well  that  his  noisy  triumphs,  which  echoed  over  the 
Tagus,  the  Thames,  the  Rhine,  and  the  Golden  Horn, 
were  of  DO  avail,  if  heretics  sapped  and  mined  the 
Church  within.  It  seemed  as  if  the  great  ecclesiasti- 
cal fabric,  to  which  he  had  given  the  devotion  of  a 
life,  was  tottering  from  corner-stone  to  apex;  when, 
one  day,  a  cardinal  came  to  him  and  said,  "I  have 
found  a  most  perfect  man,  who  wishes  to  live  accord- 
ing to  the  Holy  Gospel,  and  to  observe  evangelical 
perfection  in  all  things.  I  believe  that  through  him 
the  Lord  intends  to  reform  His  Holy  Church  in  all 
the  world."  Innocent  was  interested,  and  bade  the 
man  be  brought  before  him.  This  man  was  Francis 
lit niadone,  known  to  us  as  St.  Francis,  the  leader 
of  a  small  band  of  Umbrian  pilgrims  from  Assisi, 
who  asked  permission  to  follow  literally  the  example 
of  Jesus  Christ.  The  Pope  hesitated.  To  the  cardi- 
nals, men  of  the  world,  this  young  man  and  his  pil- 
grims were  fools  and  their  faith  nonsense.  "  But," 
argued  a  believer,  "  if  you  assert  that  it  is  novel, 
irrational,  impossible  to  observe  the  perfection  of 
the  Gospel,  and  to  take  a  vow  to  do  so,  are  you 
not  guilty  of  blasphemy  against  Christ,  the  author  of 
the  Gospel?"  Thinking  the  matter  over,  the  Pope 
dreamed  a  dream.  He  beheld  the  Church  of  St. 
John  Lateran,  the  episcopal  church  of  the  bishops 
of  Home,  leaning  in  ruin  and  about  to  fall,  when 
a  monk,  poor  and  mean  in  appearance,  bent  under 
it  and  propped  it  with  his  back.  Innocent  awoke 
and  said  to  himself,  "This Francis  is  the  holy  monk 
by  whose  help  the  Church  of  God  shall  be  lifted  up 


ST.  FRANCIS  127 

and  stand  again."  So  he  said  to  Francis  and  his 
followers,  "Go  brethren,  God  be  with  you.  Preach 
repentance  to  all  as  He  shall  give  you  inspiration. 
And  when  Almighty  God  shall  have  made  you  multi- 
ply in  numbers  and  in  grace,  come  back  to  us,  and 
we  will  entrust  you  with  greater  things." 

So  St.  Francis,  "  true  servant  of  God  and  faith- 
ful follower  of  Jesus  Christ,"  went  about  his  minis- 
try with  the  blessing  of  the  Church.  To  the  people 
of  Assisi,  of  Umbria,  and  afterwards  of  all  Central 
Italy,  his  life  was  a  revelation  of  Christianity.  He 
imparted  the  gospel  anew,  as  fresh  as  when  it  had 
first  been  given  under  the  Syrian  stars.  He  em- 
bodied peace,  gentleness,  courtesy,  and  self-sacrifice. 
It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  he  saved  the  Catholic 
Church,  and  put  off  the  Protestant  Reformation  for 
three  hundred  years.  His  example  and  influence 
raised  the  standard  of  conduct  within  the  Church  ; 
and  his  love,  his  devotion,  his  insistence  on  the 
essential  parts  of  Christ's  teaching,  and  his  dislike 
of  worldly  pomps,  deprived  heresy  of  all  its  weap- 
on**. He  satisfied  the  widespread  religious  hunger 
better  than  heresy  did.  He  was  so  characteristically 
Italian,  and  his  ministry  throws  so  much  light  on 
the  state  of  Italy  at  the  opening  of  the  thirteenth 
century,  that  it  is  worth  while  to  dwell  for  a  few 
pages  on  bis  doin 

Assisi,  built  for  safety  on  a  hill  and  protected  by 
great  walls  ami  gates,  was  a  good  example  of  a  lit- 
tle medieval  town.  In  the  centre  was  the  piazza, 
on  which  fronted  a  Roman  temple  to  Minerva, 
haughtily  scornful  of  its  medieval  surroundings. 


128        A    SHOKT   HISTORY  OF   ITALY 

Hani  by  was  the  cathedral,  where  every  bahy  was 
taken  for  baptism.  On  the  tiptop  of  the  hill  stood 
a  huge  castle,  where  the  feudal  baron'  dwelt  with 
his  ruffianly  soldiers  and  received  his  feudal  lord, 
the  Emperor,  when  he  stopped  at  Assisi  on  his  way 
to  Rome.  In  Francis's  boyhood,  the  people,  aided 
l>\  Pope  Innocent,  had  driven  out  the  German  count, 
and  had  formed  themselves  into  a  free  commune, 
Bave  for  their  allegiance  to  the  Holy  See  ;  but  the 
change  was  not  all  gain.  The  town  was  divided 
into  discordant  classes  ;  the  nobility,  maintained  in 
idleness  by  the  produce  of  their  estates,  the  bour- 
geoisie, engaged  in  trade  (Francis's  father  was  a 
merchant),  the  artisans  grouped  in  guilds,  and  the 
serfs,  who  tilled  the  fields  and  tended  the  vineyards 
and  olive  orchards.  Once  rid  of  the  German  count, 
the  bourgeoisie  endeavoured  to  rid  themselves  of  the 
arrogant  and  idle  nobility.  Street  war  broke  out. 
The  nobles  fled  to  Perugia,  another  little  town 
perched  on  a  hill  some  dozen  miles  across  the  plain, 
and  asked  for  help.  Perugia  rejoiced  in  the  oppor- 
tunity. The  miseries  of  a  petty  war  between  two 
little  neighbours  need  no  description.  Fields  and 
vineyards  were  devastated,  olive  orchards  destroyed, 
farm-houses  burned.  Even  in  peace  the  peasants 
around  Assisi  lived  in  constant  disquiet,  ready  to 
fling  down  their  mattocks  and  flee  to  the  protection 
of  the  city  walls. 

Within  the  city  the  streets  were  narrow,  the 
houses  small.  Dirt  abounded.  War  brought  pov- 
erty, dirt  brought  the  pest,  Crusaders  brought  lep- 
rosy.   At  the  gates  of  the  town  stood  lazar-houses, 


ST.  FRANCIS  129 

and  in  remote  spots  lepers  in  the  earlier  stages  of 
disease  gathered  together.  Yet,  despite  war,  pest, 
and  leprosy,  life  in  Unibria  could  never  have  been 
wholly  sad.  Certainly  the  sons  of  the  well-to-do 
enjoyed  themselves  and  whiled  away  the  time  care- 
lessly. Sometimes  a  great  personage  stopped  on  his 
Rome  ward  way  ;  sometimes  strolling  players  exhib- 
ited their  shows  on  the  piazza  before  the  Temple 
of  Minerva ;  sometimes  a  troubadour,  escaped  from 
the  persecution  in  Provence,  passed  by  on  his  way 
to  Sicily,  and  sang  his  songs  to  repay  hospitality. 
Many  an  afternoon  and  night  the  clubs  of  young 
gentlemen  gave  fetes  champ  etres  and  dances.  Fran- 
cis, as  a  boy,  was  gayest  of  the  gay,  dancing  and 
piping  in  the  market-place,  fighting  in  the  front  rank 
against  the  nobles  of  Perugia,  but  when  he  grew  to 
manhood  he  could  not  bear  the  contrast  between 
mirth  and  misery.  He  sought  for  some  universal  joy 
and  found  it  in  the  love  of  Christ.  He  gathered  about 
him  a  scanty  band  of  holy  and  humble  men  of  heart, 
who  took  the  vow  of  poverty,  and  devoted  them- 
selves to  praising  God,  comforting  the  wretched,  and 
tending  lepers.  The  abbot  of  the  neighbouring  Bene- 
dictine monastery  gave  them  a  little  chapel,  where 
St.  Benedict  himself  had  once  said  mass,  which  lay 
in  the  plain  a  mile  below  the  town.  This  little 
chapel,  named  the  Portiuncula  (the  little  portion), 

which  is  now  covered  by  the  great  church  of  Santa 
Maria  ili'jli  Angeli  (St.  Mary  of  the  Angels),  so 
called  because  the  songs  of  angels  were  heard  there, 

vraa  tin-  cradle  of  the  Franciscan  ( trder.   It  was  a  tiny 

building,  twenty  feet  wide  and    thirty    long,  with   a 


180         A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

steep  pitched  roof,  plain  walls,  and  big,  round-arched 
door, and  was  Badly  dilapidated.  St.  Francis  and  his 
friends  buill  it  up, and  it  became  their  church.  Round 
it  they  built  their  huts,  and  encompassed  all  with 
a  hedge.  Here  it  was  that  St.  Clare,  the  daugh- 
ter of  a  nobleman  of  Assisi,  donned  the  nun's 
dress.  Here  Francis  passed  the  happy  years  of  his 
life,  while  as  yet  his  disciples  were  few  and  all  were 
animated  by  his  passionate  longing-  for  self-abnega- 
tion. He  followed  the  New  Testament  literally,  su- 
perstitiously  one  would  say  were  it  not  that  this 
literal  obedience  was  accompanied  by  ineffable  peace 
of  heart  and  joy.  He  specially  enjoined  poverty. 
A  smock,  a  cord,  and  sandals  were  enough  for  a  true 
brother.  Once  a  novice  begged  for  permission  to 
own  a  psalter,  and  teased  him,  but  Francis  an- 
swered :  "  After  you  have  the  psalter  you  will 
covet  and  long  for  a  breviary ;  and  when  you  pos- 
sess a  breviary  you  mil  sit  on  a  chair  like  a  great 
prelate,  and  say  to  thy  brother,  fetch  me  my  bre- 
viary." Nor  would  he  suffer  the  brethren  to  take 
heed  for  the  morrow.  They  were  only  allowed  to 
ask  for  provisions  sufficient  for  the  day.  For  he,  in 
the  rapture  of  his  love,  found  infinite  pleasure  in 
the  literal  fulfillment  of  every  word  that  had  fallen 
from  Christ's  lips.  Francis  was  an  orator  ;  he  pos- 
sessed passion,  the  gTeat  source  of  eloquence,  and 
stirred  prelates  and  Crusaders  as  well  as  peasants 
and  lepers.  The  world  wished  for  sympathy  and 
he  gave  it.  He  seemed  to  be  sick  with  the  sick, 
afflicted  with  those  in  affliction,  holy  with  the  good  ; 
and  even  sinners  felt  him  one  of  themselves.    To 


ST.  FRANCIS  131 

his  disciples  he  was  Jesus  come  again.  Joy  and  hap- 
piness radiated  from  him.  All  the  world  felt  the 
charm  and  beauty  of  his  love  of  God,  and  poetry 
followed  him  as  wild  violets  attend  the  spring-. 

Thus  Francis,  by  rubbing  off  the  incrustations  of 
twelve  hundred  unchristian  years,  revealed  the  poetry 
of  the  gospel  to  an  eager  world.  One  charming 
trait  of  his  character  was  his  love  of  animals,  espe- 
cially of  birds.  He  wished  the  ox  and  the  ass,  com- 
panions of  the  manger,  to  share  in  the  Christmas 
good  cheer  ;  and  hoped  that  the  Emperor  would 
make  a  law  that  nobody  should  kill  larks  or  do  them 
any  hurt.  He  was  always  very  fond  of  larks  and 
said  that  their  plumage  was  like  a  religious  dress. 
••Wherefore,  —  according  to  his  disciple,  Brother 
Leo,  —  it  pleased  God  that  these  lowly  little  birds 
should  give  a  sign  of  affection  for  him  at  the  hour 
of  his  death.  On  the  eve  of  the  Sabbath  day  after 
vespers,  just  before  the  night  in  which  he  went  up 
to  God,  a  great  multitude  of  larks  Hew  down  over 
the  roof  of  the  house  where  he  lay,  and  all  flying 
together  wheeled  in  circles  round  the  roof  and  sin£- 
ing  sweetly  seemed  to  be  praising  God." 

IIi>  disciples  went  forth  from  their  headquarters, 
the  PortiunculOy  like  the  Apostles,  to  preach  the 
gospel,  first  to  the  people  of  Umbria  and  Tuscany, 
then  on  to  Bologna  and  Verona,  and  soon  over  the 
Alps  and  across  the  seas.  The  Order  had  three 
branches:  the  begging  friars  themselves,  tonsured 
and  clad  in  undved  cloth,  with  cords  about  their 
musts  and  sandals  on  their  feet;  the  sister  Clares, 
shut    up    in    nunneries,    and    dressed    most    simplv  ; 


132         A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

and  the  third  order,  people  who  continued  to  live 
in  the  world,  but  wished  to  follow  the  example  of 
Christ  and  his  blessed  imitator  and  servant,  Francis. 
The  first  rule  of  the  begging  friars  had  been  very 
strict.  For  Francis  the  strait  gate  that  led  to  eter- 
nal life  was  poverty.  Even  in  his  lifetime  after  his 
( hrder  had  become  popular,  there  was  grumbling 
and  opposition  ;  and  after  his  death,  the  literal  ob- 
servance of  his  wishes  was  promptly  given  up.  He 
would  never  allow  his  brethren  to  own  a  house  or 
have  a  church  ;  and  yet  within  two  years  after  his 
death  the  great  basilica  in  Assisi  was  begun,  dedi- 
cated to  him,  and  hurried  to  magnificent  completion. 
The  Church,  which  held  the  doctrine  of  evangelical 
poverty  fit  only  for  mad  men  of  genius,  laid  her 
heavy  hand  on  the  Order,  and  guided  and  governed 
it  as  best  suited  her  purposes.  But  it  would  be 
grossly  unfair  to  the  Church  to  blame  her  for  vio- 
lating Francis's  chief  dogma.  The  total  rejection  of 
property,  the  total  disregard  of  the  morrow,  seemed 
to  her,  as  they  seem  to  us  to-day,  doctrines  wholly 
inapplicable  to  this  world  in  which  we  find  our- 
selves. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

THE  FALL  OF  THE  EMPIRE  (1216-1250) 

The  Church  seized  the  Franciscan  Order  as  a  man 
in  danger  grasps  at  a  means  of  safety,  and  shaped  it 
to  her  needs ;  for,  in  spite  of  her  brilliant  triumphs 
under  Innocent,  her  needs  were  great.  The  Papacy 
and  the  Empire  approached  their  final  struggle ;  both 
felt  instinctively  that  the  issue  must  be  decisive. 
Their  fundamental  incompatibility  had  been  aggra- 
vated by  the  union  of  the  crowns  of  Sicily  and  Ger- 
many. Innocent  had  been  pushed  by  circumstances 
into  supporting  Frederick's  claim  to  Germany,  and 
though  he  had  striven  to  prevent  the  natural  conse- 
quences by  extorting  oaths  from  Frederick,  yet  as 
time  went  on  the  danger  became  clearer.  Under 
Innocent's  successor,  Pope  Honorius,  the  Papacy 
lay  like  a  cherry  between  an  upper  and  lower  jaw, 
which  watered  to  close  and  crunch  it;  and  this  ex- 
treme peril  is  the  excuse  for  the  bitterness  of  the 
Popes  in  the  contest  which  followed.  The  Papacy 
fought  for  its  life. 

The  contest  affected  all  Italy.  Milan  and  many 
cities  of  the  valley  of  the  Po  were  Guelf ;  but  Pavia 
and  some  others  were  Ghibelline,  not  that  they  loved 
die  Emperor,  bat  hated  .Milan ;  Florence  and  the  other 

Tuscan  cities,  except  ( Jhibellme  Pisa  and  Siena,  which 
hated  Florence,  were  Guelf;    Koine  was  split  in  two: 


L84         A    SHORT    HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

the  Colonna,  the  Frangipani,  and  other  great  families 
were  generally  Ghibelline,  though  permanent  alle- 
eriance  was  unfashionable,  while  the  Orsini  and  others 
were  Guelf.  The  Gray  Friars,  who  swarmed  from  the 
AJps  to  the  Strait  of  Messina,  were  steadfast  Guelfs, 
and  even  carried  their  loyalty  so  far,  their  enemies 
said,  as  to  subordinate  religion  to  political  ends.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  aristocracy,  which  was  chiefly  of 
Teutonic  descent,  held  for  the  Empire. 

Frederick  himself  is  the  central  figure  of  the  period. 
In  his  lifetime  he  excited  love  and  hate  to  extrava- 
gance, and  he  still  excites  the  enthusiasm  of  scholars. 
His  is  the  most  interesting  Italian  personality  between 
St.  Francis  and  Dante.  I  say  Italian,  for  though 
Frederick  inherited  the  Hohenstaufen  vigour  and 
energy,  he  got  his  chief  traits  from  his  Sicilian 
mother.  Poet,  lawgiver,  soldier,  statesman,  he  was 
the  wonder  of  the  world,  stupor  mundi,  as  an  Eng- 
lish chronicler  called  him.  Impetuous,  terrible,  vo- 
luptuous, refined,  he  was  a  kind  of  Caesarian  Byron. 
In  most  ways  he  outstripped  contemporary  thought ; 
in  many  ways  he  outstripped  contemporary  sympa- 
thy. He  was  sceptical  of  the  Athanasian  Creed,  of 
communal  freedom,  and  of  other  things  which  his 
Italian  countrymen  believed  devoutly;  while  they 
were  sceptical  of  the  divine  right  of  the  Empire,  of 
the  blessing  of  a  strong  central  government,  and  of 
other  matters  which  he  believed  devoutly. 

Between  a  stubborn  Emperor,  a  stiff-necked  Papacy, 
and  obstinate  communes,  relations  strained  taut.  The 
first  break  occurred  between  Emperor  and  Papacy. 
The  Popes  honestly  desired  to  reconquer  Jerusalem, 


THE   FALL   OF   THE   EMPIRE  135 

which  had  fallen  back  into  infidel  hands,  and  inces- 
santly urged  a  crusade  ;  but  perhaps  at  this  juncture 
their  zeal  was  heightened  by  a  notion  that  the  most 
effective  defensive  measure  against  the  Emperor 
would  be  to  keep  him  busy  in  Palestine.  Frederick 
had  solemnly  promised  to  go.  He  had  also  solemnly 
promised  to  keep  the  crowns  of  Germany  and  of  the 
Two  Sicilies  separate,  by  putting  the  latter  on  his 
son's  head ;  but  instead  of  this  separation  he  kept 
both  crowns  on  his  own  head,  and  secured  both  for 
his  son  as  his  successor.  In  spite  of  this  violated  pro- 
mise, Pope  Honorius,  a  gentle  soul,  devoutly  eager 
for  the  crusade,  crowned  Frederick  Emperor  (1220), 
upon  Frederick's  renewed  promise  that  he  would 
start  on  the  crusade  within  a  year.  The  year  passed, 
then  another  and  another,  and  Frederick,  with  his 
crowns  safe  on  his  head,  did  not  move  a  foot  towards 
Jerusalem.  The  gentle  Honorius  remonstrated;  Fred- 
erick made  vows,  excuses,  protestations,  but  did  not 
go.  Finally  the  mild  Pope  died,  and  was  succeeded 
by  the  venerable  Cardinal  Ugolino,  Gregory  IX, 
(  1227— 1241  ).  Ugolino  was  a  member  of  the  Conti 
family  of  Latium  (so  preeminently  counts  that  they 
took  their  name  from  their  title),  and  a  near  relation 
to  [nnocenl  III.  His  indomitable  character  proved 
his  kinship.    Blameless  in  private  life, a  warm  friend 

to  St.  Francis,  deeply  versed  in  ecclesiastical  affairs, 

be  had  a  benign  nice  and  noble  presence;  in  fact,  to 
quote  tie-  gentle  Pope  Honorius,  he  was  "a  Cedar 
of  Lebanon  in  the  Park  of  the  Church."  But,  in 
spite  of  bis  virtue,  his  training,  and  his  fourscore 
.  he  was  a  very  Hotspur,  fiery,  impatient,  and 


L86         A    SHORT    HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

headstrong.  It  was  be  who  had  put  the  crusader's 
oross  into  Frederick's  hands  and  had  received  his 
crusader's  vow  ;  and  now,  having  bottled  up  his 
wrath  daring  the  pontificate  of  Honorius,  he  could 
brook  no  further  delay.  Frederick  made  ready  to 
go.  Ships  and  men  were  gathered  at  Brindisi,  and, 
in  spite  of  a  pestilence  which  killed  many  soldiers, 
the  ileet  set  sail.  A  few  days  later  word  was  brought 
that  Frederick  had  put  about  and  disembarked  in 
[taly. 

Gregory  was  furiously  angry,  and  despatched  an 
encyclical  letter  to  certain  bishops  in  Frederick's 
kingdom,  which  sets  forth  the  papal  side  of  the 
matter:  "Out  in  the  spacious  amplitude  of  the 
sea,  the  little  bark  of  Peter,  placed  or  rather  dis- 
placed by  whirlwinds  and  tempests,  is  so  continu- 
ously tossed  about  by  storms  and  waves,  that  its 
pilot  and  rowers  under  the  stress  of  inundating  rains 
can  hardly  breathe.  Four  special  tempests  shake  our 
ship  :  the  perfidy  of  infidels,  the  madness  of  tyrants, 
the  insanity  of  heretics,  the  perverse  fraud  of  false 
sons.  There  are  wars  without  and  fears  within,  and 
it  frequently  happens  that  the  distressed  Church  of 
Christ,  while  she  thinks  she  cherishes  children,  nour- 
ishes at  her  breast  fires,  serpents,  and  vipers,  who  by 
poisonous  breath,  by  bite  and  conflagration,  strive 
to  ruin  all.  Now,  in  this  time  when  there  is  need  to 
destroy  monsters  of  this  sort,  to  rout  hostile  armies, 
to  still  disturbing  tempests,  the  Apostolic  See  with 
great  diligence  has  cherished  a  certain  child,  to  wit, 
the  Emperor  Frederick,  whom  from  his  mother's 
womb  she  received  upon  her  knees,  nursed  him  at 


THE   FALL   OF   THE   EMPIRE  137 

her  breasts,  carried  him  on  her  back,  rescued  him 
often  from  the  hands  of  them  that  sought  his  life, 
with  great  pains  and  cost  studied  to  educate  him 
until  she  had  brought  him  to  manhood,  and  led  him 
to  a  kingly  crown  and  even  to  the  height  of  the  Im- 
perial dignity,  believing  that  he  would  be  a  rod  of 
defence,  and  a  staff  for  her  old  age." 

The  encyclical  then  proceeds  to  recount  Freder- 
ick's promises,  his  delays,  evasions,  excuses,  and  the 
false  start  from  Brindisi,  and  adds,  "  Hearken  and  see 
if  there  be  any  sorrow  like  the  sorrow  of  your  mother 
the  Apostolic  See,  so  cruelly,  so  totally  deceived  by 
a  son  whom  she  had  nursed,  in  whom  she  had  placed 
the  trust  of  her  hope  in  this  matter.  But  we  put 
our  hope  in  the  compassion  of  God  that  He  will 
show  to  us  a  way  by  which  we  shall  advance  pros- 
perously in  this  affair,  and  that  He  will  point  out 
men,  who  in  purity  of  heart  and  with  cleanness  of 
hand  shall  lead  the  Christian  army.  Yet  lest,  like 
dumb  dogs  who  cannot  bark,  we  should  seem  to 
defer  to  man  against  God,  and  take  no  vengeance 
upon  him,  the  Emperor  Frederick,  who  has  wrought 
such  ruin  on  God's  people,  We,  though  unwilling, 
do  publicly  pronounce  him  excommunicated,  and 
command  that  he  be  by  all  completely  shunned,  and 
that  vou  and  other  prelates  who  shall  hear  of  this, 
publicly  publish  his  excommunication.  And,  if  his 
Contumacy  shall  demand,  more  grave;  proceeding 
shall  be  taken." 

This  ban  of  excommunication  was  published  over 
the  world  ;  bishops  gave  it  out  in  their  dioceses, 
priests  in  their  parishes;  Gray  Friars  told  of  it  from 


138         A   SHORT    HISTORY   OF  ITALY 

Sicily  to  Scot  la  ml.  Frederick  in  answer  wrote  letters 
to  the  kings  of  Europe,  saying  that  the  Roman 
Ch u nli  Mas  so  consumed  with  avarice  and  greed, 
that,  not  satisfied  with  her  own  Church  property, 
she  was  not  ashamed  to  disinherit  emperors,  kings, 
and  princes,  and  make  them  trihutary.  To  the  King 
of  England  he  wrote:  — 

"  Of  these  premises  the  King  of  England  has  an 
example,  for  the  Church  excommunicated  his  father, 
King  John,  and  kept  him  excommunicated  till  he 
and  his  kingdom  hecame  trihutary  to  her.  Like- 
wise all  have  the  example  of  many  other  princes, 
whose  lands  and  persons  she  squeezed  under  an  in- 
terdict till  she  had  reduced  them  to  similar  servi- 
tude. We  pass  over  her  simony,  her  unheard-of  ex- 
actions, her  open  usury,  and  her  new-fangled  tricks, 
which  infect  the  whole  world.  We  pass  over  her 
speeches,  sweeter  than  honey,  smoother  than  oil, — 
insatiable  bloodsuckers !  They  say  that  the  Roman 
Curia  is  the  Church,  our  mother  and  nurse,  when 
that  Curia  is  the  root  and  origin  of  all  evils.  She 
does  not  act  like  a  mother,  but  like  a  stepmother. 
By  her  fruits  which  we  know  she  gives  sure  proof. 

"Let  the  famous  barons  of  England  think  of  this. 
Pope  Innocent  instigated  them  to  rise  in  revolt 
against  King  John  as  a  stubborn  enemy  of  the 
Church,  but  after  that  abnormally  celebrated  King- 
made  obeisance  and,  like  a  woman,  delivered  lip  him- 
self and  his  kingdom  to  the  Roman  Church,  that 
Pope,  putting  behind  him  his  respect  for  man  and 
fear  of  God,  trampled  down  the  nobles,  whom  he 
had  first  supported  and  pricked  on,  and  left  them 


THE   FALL   OF  THE   EMPIRE  139 

exposed  to  death  and  disinheritance,  so  that  he,  af- 
ter the  Roman  fashion,  should  gulp  down  his  impu- 
dent throat  the  fatter  morsels.  In  this  way,  under 
t'he  incitement  of  Roman  avarice,  England,  fairest  of 
countries,  was  made  a  tributary.  Behold  the  ways 
of  the  Romans ;  behold  how  they  seek  to  snare  all 
and  each,  how  they  get  money  by  fraud,  how  they 
subjugate  the  free  and  disturb  the  peaceable,  clad 
in  sheep's  clothing  but  inwardly  ravening  wolves. 
They  send  legates  hither  and  thither,  to  excommu- 
nicate, to  reprimand,  to  punish,  —  not  to  save  the 
fruitful  seed  of  God's  wrord,  but  to  extort  money,  to 
bind  and  reap  where  they  have  never  sown. 

"Against  us  also,  as  He  who  sees  all  things  knows, 
they  have  raged  like  bacchantes,  wrongfully,  saying 
that  we  would  not  cross  the  sea  according  to  terms 
fixed,  when  much  unavoidable  and  arduous  busi- 
ness about  the  going,  and  about  the  Church  and 
about  the  Empire,  detained  us,  not  counting  sick- 
ness. First  there  were  the  insolent  Sicilian  rebels  : 
and  it  did  not  seem  to  us  a  good  plan  nor  expedient 
for  Christianity  to  go  to  the  Holy  Land,"  etc.  And 
he  ended,  bo  the  chronicler  says,  with  an  exhortation 
to  all  the  princes  of  the  world  to  beware  against  such 
avarice  and  wickedness,  because  "  you  are  concerned 
when  your  neighbour's  house  is  on  fire." 

These  letters  show  the  temper  on  both  sides.  Out- 
wardly, however,  peace  was  observed,  and  Frederick 
really  went    Oil    the   promised    crusade;    and,  though 

iu  Syria  be  found  Patriarchy  Templars,  Hospitallers, 

and  Franciscans  all  turned  against  him,  he  succeeded 

in  making  a  treaty  by  which  Jerusalem,  Nazareth, 


140         A    SHORT   HISTORY    OF   ITALY 

and  Bethlehem  were  ceded  to  him,  and  he  crowned 
himself  king  in  Jerusalem.  In  the  mean  time  hos- 
tility's had  broken  out  in  Italy.  Frederick  incited 
the  Roman  barons  to  drive  the  Pope  from  Rome, 
and  the  Pope  preached  a  crusade  against  Frederick. 
But  both  sides,  having  many  cares  within  their  re- 
spective jurisdictions,  at  length  made  peace,  and 
Frederick  was  enabled  to  go  back  to  his  consuetas 
(It  Iwias,  his  wonted  delights. 

This  phrase,  which  was  used  by  the  Pope,  probably 
contained  an  innuendo,  for  gossip  busied  itself  with 
Frederick's  Christianity  and  morals.  He  tolerated 
Saracens  in  his  kingdom,  lived  on  friendly  terms 
with  them,  and  preferred  them  in  his  army,  for 
they  were  indifferent  to  excommunication  ;  and  gos- 
sip added  that  he  liked  Saracen  ladies,  hinted  at  a 
harem,  and  alleged  that  in  Syria  he  had  accepted 
the  present  of  a  troop  of  Moslem  dancers.  Gossip, 
spread  by  the  glib  tongues  of  mendicant  friars, 
charged  him  with  saying,  "  If  God  had  seen  my 
beautiful  Sicily,  he  would  not  have  chosen  that 
beggarly  Palestine  for  His  Kingdom,"  "  There  have 
been  three  great  impostors  who  invented  religions, 
and  one  of  them  was  crucified."  Frederick's  real 
offence  in  ecclesiastical  eyes  was  that  he  wished  to 
subordinate  the  spiritual  to  the  secular  power.  It 
was  natural,  however,  that  pious  folk  should  look 
askance  at  a  prince  who,  while  Christendom  was  fight- 
ing Islam,  hobnobbed  with  Mohammedans  and  seemed 
to  find  them  more  sympathetic  than  Christians. 

Frederick's    real    consuetce   delicice   were  of  an- 
other kind.    In  his  Sicilian  court  we  catch  the  first 


THE   FALL   OF  THE   EMPIKE  141 

streaks  of  the  dawn  that  was  destined  to  brighten 
into  the  day  of  the  Renaissance.  He  himself  was  a 
highly  accomplished  man,  spoke  Italian,  German, 
Arabic,  and  Greek,  and  took  an  interest  in  mathe- 
matics, philosophy,  and  in  general  learning.  But 
poetry  was  his  favourite  pleasure.  The  Italian  lan- 
guage, recently  emerged  from  dog  Latin,  had  just 
begun  to  serve  literary  uses,  and  Frederick's  court 
had  the  honour  of  producing  the  first  school  of  Ital- 
ian poetry.  He,  his  sons  Manfred  and  Enzio,  his 
chief  counsellor  Pier  della  Vigna,  and  many  poets 
and  troubadours  drawn  thither  by  his  fame,  so  far 
outstripped  the  rest  of  Italy  that  all  Italian  poetry, 
wherever  written,  was  called  Sicilian. 

Sicily  was  the  most  civilized  place  in  Europe, 
now  that  Southern  France  had  been  crushed  by 
the  Albigensian  persecution.  The  old  Greek  stock 
kept  some  trace  of  their  inheritance ;  the  Arabs  had 
brought  their  culture  ;  the  Normans  had  added  chiv- 
alric  ideas ;  the  Crusades  and  commerce  had  enlarged 
the  intellectual  boundaries ;  and  Frederick  himself 
had  extraordinary  versatility.  Mathematicians  from 
Granada,  philosophers  from  Alexandria,  were  as 
welcome  as  the  troubadours  from  Provence.  Fred- 
erick looked  after  his  own  royal  estates,  managed 
his  stud  farm  in  Apulia,  decided  when  brood  mares 
should  be  fed  on  barley  and  when  kept  to  grass.  He 
was  a  greaf  Bporteman,  too,  and  wrote  a  book  on 
falconry.  He  enacted  a  famous  code  of  laws,  far 
Superior  in  many  respects  to  existing  legislation, 
which  was  conceived  with  the  definite  plan  of  exalt- 
ing   royal    authority    over    feudal    prerogatives   and 


142         A    SHORT    HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

communal  customs.  He  deprived  the  barons  of 
criminal  jurisdiction;  forbade  private  war,  carrying 
weapons,  etc.;  he  limited  trial  by  ordeal  so  far  as  he 
could,  calling  it  "a  species  of  divination  ;"  he  made 
minute  regulations  in  matters  of  business  and  behav- 
iour,  and  maintained  a  paternal  authority. 

In  fact,  Sicily,  with  its  culture,  poetry,  Moslems, 
and  its  unorthodox  king,  succeeded  to  the  heretical 
position  of  Southern  France.  The  Papacy  felt  in- 
stinctively that  a  civilization  so  happy  in  the  good 
things  of  this  world,  so  lax  on  many  points  of  mo- 
rality, so  careless  of  the  Roman  ecclesiastical  sys- 
tem, was  a  perpetual  menace  to  it.  In  the  nature  of 
things,  the  peace  that  had  been  made  with  Freder- 
ick could  not  last  long. 

The  breach  happened  in  the  North.  The  Lom- 
bard cities  revolted.  Frederick  marched  against 
them  and  won  a  victory  (1237).  Then  was  the 
zenith  of  his  power;  his  very  triumph  was  the  cause 
of  his  undoing.  All  the  Guelfs  of  Italy  roused  them- 
selves for  the  struggle.  The  Pope  took  part,  and  a 
second  time  excommunicated  Frederick,  enumerat- 
ing a  score  of  sins.  A  later  Pope  held  a  council  at 
Lyons  (a  place  of  safety),  excommunicated  Fred- 
erick again,  and  deposed  him  from  his  Imperial 
throne  (1245).  Then  an  anti-emperor  was  set  up. 
Blow  on  blow  fell  upon  Frederick.  He  was  terribly 
routed  at  Parma,  through  carelessness.  His  gallant 
son  En/io.  the  poet,  was  captured  by  the  Bolognese, 
who  would  not  release  him,  though  Frederick  offered 
to  put  a  rim  of  gold  round  the  walls  of  their  city. 
Kn/.io  spent  twenty-three  years  in  prison  and  there 


THE   FALL   OF   THE    EMPIRE  143 

died.  Pier  della  Vigna,  who  "  kept  both  the  keys  of 
Frederick's  heart,"  was  suspected  of  high  treason 
and  condemned  to  death.  Frederick  himself  died  in 
1250,  and  the  Pope  shouted  for  joy  at  the  news, 
"  Be  glad  ye  Heavens,  and  let  the  Earth  rejoice  !  " 
He  had  good  reason,  for  the  Church  had  lost  its 
most  dangerous  enemy. 

With  the  death  of  Frederick  the  Empire  came  to 
its  end.  The  name  of  Holy  Roman  Empire  con- 
tinued till  1806,  and  from  time  to  time  for  several 
hundred  years  German  kings  came  down  across  the 
Alps  to  receive  the  Imperial  crown,  but  on  Fred- 
erick's death  the  old  mediaeval  Empire  practically 
ceased  ;  and  Italy,  instead  of  being  an  Imperial  pro- 
vince, became  a  series  of  independent  states. 

The  end  of  the  Hohenstaufens  themselves  reads 
like  the  last  act  of  a  bloody  Elizabethan  tragedy. 
Within  a  few  years  the  only  survivors  among  Fred- 
erick's descendants  were  his  lawful  heir,  a  baby, 
Conradin,  and  an  illegitimate  son,  Manfred.  Man- 
fred, who  had  inherited  the  charm,  the  address,  the 
energy  and  brilliance  of  his  father,  succeeded  in  es- 
tablishing himself  in  the  Two  Sicilies,  at  first  as 
regent  for  bis  nephew,  and  afterwards,  for  in  those 
troubled  times  a  regency  was  precarious,  as  king  in 
bifl  own  right.  But  the  Popes  were  resolved  not  to 
undergo  a  repetition  of  the  danger  they  had  expe- 
rienced from  Frederick,  and  laid  their  plans  to  de- 
stroy the  last  of  the  "  viper's  brood,"  as  they  called 
Frederick's  family.   They  followed  the  old  precedent, 

set  in  the  days  vrhen  the  Papacy  bad  been  in  danger 

from    the    Lombards,  and   invited   a    French   prince. 


144         A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

Charles  of  Anjou,  brother  to  St.  Louis,  to  come  and 
depose  Manfred^  and  offered  him  the  crown  of  the 
Two  Sicilies.  The  crafty,  capable,  deep-scheming 
Charles  accepted,  and  came  amid  great  rejoicing 
among  the  Guelfs.  Rome  made  him  Senator.  Flor- 
ence  made  him  podesta  ;  in  fact,  all  Guelf  Italy  was 
at  his  feet.  The  Pope  proclaimed  a  crusade  against 
Manfred,  collected  tithes  and  taxes  for  the  holy 
purpose,  and  provided  Charles  with  an  army.  Man- 
fred was  defeated  and  killed  (1266),  and  two  years 
later,  the  valiant  Conradin,  a  lad  of  sixteen,  who 
came  down  in  the  mad  hope  of  regaining  his  king- 
dom, was  also  defeated,  taken  prisoner,  and,  after  a 
mock  trial  for  treason,  put  to  death.  Thus  the  Pa- 
pacy prevented  the  union  of  the  Two  Sicilies  with  the 
Empire,  and  thus  the  House  of  Anjou  supplanted  the 
last  of  the  Hohenstaufens  at  Palermo  and  Naples. 


CHAPTER  XV 

THE  FALL  OF  THE  MEDLEVAL  PAPACY  (1303) 


We  are  now  coming  out  of  the  Middle  Ages,  and 
the  dawn  of  a  new  era  grows  more  and  more  ap- 
parent. The  Empire,  embodiment  of  an  old  outworn 
theory,  has  already  fallen,  and  its  victorious  rival, 
the  Papacy,  in  so  far  as  it  embodies  the  mediaeval 
idea  of  a  theocratic  supremacy,  is  tottering,  and  it, 
too,  will  soon  fall  before  the  unsympathetic  forces 
of  a  new  age.  So  long  as  the  Papacy  stood  un- 
touched, it  looked  as  potent  and  sovereign,  and 
spoke  with  as  lofty  a  tone,  as  in  the  days  of  Inno- 
cent ;  but  a  hundred  years  had  wrought  great 
changes,  and  at  a  push  it  tumbled  and  fell. 

Hints  had  already  been  dropped  that  the  dread 
thunderbolt,  the  curse  of  Rome,  which  had  helped 
win  the  proud  position  of  lordship  over  Europe,  had 
become  mere  brutum  fulmen.  Excommunication  had 
been  so  prodigally  used  for  political  purposes  that 
educated  men  no  longer  believed  that  it  was  really 
the  curse  of  heaven.  Moreover,  Europe  had  not 
been  standing  still.  The  vigorous,  compact  kingdom 
of  Fiance  had  come  into  being,  and  flushed  with  a 
sense  of  power  and  importance,  determined  to  take 

that  part  in    European   polities  which  it  regarded  as 

in  due.  In  angry  Belf-confidenee  the  young  king- 
dom confronted   the  overweening   Papacy,  savagely 


146         A    SHORT    HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

tore  off  its  giant's  robe,  and  laid  bare  its  real  -weak- 
ness. 

Boniface  VTJI  (1294-1303)  was  the  pontiff  under 
whom  the  papal  empire  came  to  its  end.  He  was  a 
vigorous,  energetic,  arrogant,  eloquent,  handsome 
man,  with  a  wide  knowledge  of  law,  diplomacy,  and 
politics.  In  the  cathedral  at  Florence  there  is  a 
large  statue  of  him,  calm  and  dignified,  almost  he- 
roic. He  sits  with  his  rochet  and  tiara  on,  his  right 
hand  raised  with  two  fingers  extended  as  if  bless- 
ing,—  an  unusual  occupation,  —  and  looks  far  more 
of  this  world  than  of  the  other.  His  contempo- 
rary, the  Florentine  historian,  Villain,  a  Guelf,  says: 
"  He  was  great-minded  and  lordly,  and  coveted  much 
honour,  .  .  .  and  was  much  respected  and  feared 
for  his  learning  and  power.  He  was  very  grasping 
for  money  in  order  to  aggrandize  the  Church  and 
his  own  relations,  making  no  shame  of  gain,  for  he 
said  that  he  might  do  anything  with  what  belonged 
to  the  Church.  .  .  .  He  was  very  learned  in  books, 
very  wary  and  capable,  and  had  great  common 
sense  ;  he  had  wide  knowledge  and  a  good  mem- 
ory, but  was  extremely  cruel  and  haughty  with  his 
enemies  and  adversaries,  .  .  .  more  worldly  than 
befitted  his  exalted  station,  and  he  did  many  things 
displeasing  to  God."  Dante,  passionately  Ghibelline, 
calls  Boniface  "  prince  of  the  new  Pharisees  "  and 
sends  him  to  hell. 

Boniface's  chief  enemies,  as  was  usual  in  the  case 
of  a  Pope  who  had  enemies,  were  Romans.  If  the 
Papacy  had  been  able  to  reduce  Rome  to  real  obe- 
dience, its  history  would  have  been  different.    The 


FALL   OF  THE   MEDLEVAL   PAPACY     147 

rebellious  commune  and  the  rebellious  barons  were 
constantly  on  the  watch  for  favourable  opportuni- 
ties to  revolt,  or,  as  they  regarded  it,  to  assert 
their  rights  and  liberties,  and  Boniface's  first  strug- 
gle came  with  the  great  House  of  Colonna.  The 
Colonnas  were  haughty ;  he  was  imperious.  They 
hinted  that  he  was  not  legally  Pope ;  he  excommuni- 
cated them,  proclaimed  a  crusade,  captured  and  de- 
stroyed their  fortresses  in  the  Campagna,  and  made 
them  deadly  enemies.  This  victory  was  achieved  at 
a  price  thereafter  to  be  paid  in  full.  But  for  the 
time  Boniface  was  triumphant,  and  seemed,  to  him- 
self at  least,  to  sit  as  high  as  the  great  Innocent  a 
hundred  years  before. 

In  the  year  1300  he  originated  the  custom,  ever 
since  observed,  of  a  papal  jubilee  to  celebrate  the 
centennial  year.  For  centuries  Palestine  had  been 
the  destination  of  pilgrims,  and  the  holy  character 
of  Rome  had  been  passed  by,  but,  now  that  Pales- 
tine was  completely  lost,  Rome  reasserted  herself  as 
the  pilgrims'  city,  and  crowds  again  visited  the  Ro- 
man basilicas.  Eager  to  encourage  a  practice  which 
he  saw  would  increase  the  prestige  and  the  income 
(if  the  Holy  Sec,  Boniface  issued  his  Bull  of  Jubilee 
which  promised  remission  of  sins  to  all  pilgrims  who 
Bhotdd  visit  tin*  basilicas  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul 
during  the  year. 

Pious  folk  came  from  etery  where  ;  on  an  average 
there  were  two  hundred  thousand  at  a  time.  They 
gave  theii  offerings  so  generously  that,  as  an  eye- 
witness Bays,  "  Day  and  night  two  priests  stood 
beside  the  altar  in  St.  Paul's,  holding  rakes  in  their 


L48        A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

hands,  raking  in  the  money."  It  was  noticed,  how- 
ever, thai  there  were  no  kings  or  princes  in  the 
throng.  That  year  was  the  summit  of  Boniface's 
prosperity. 

In  the  mean  time  the  quarrel  with  France  had 
already  begun.  The  French  king,  Philip  the  Fair, 
who  was  the  personification  of  the  new  lay  spirit, 
enacted  a  series  of  laws  against  the  clergy,  and, 
going  counter  to  the  accepted  doctrine  of  clerical 
immunity  from  secular  taxation,  levied  taxes  upon 
them.  This  step  was  portentous.  Boniface  answered 
by  absolutely  forbidding  both  taxation  and  payment 
of  taxes.  The  King  of  France  not  only  persisted  in 
taxation,  but  also  forbade  the  exportation  of  any 
money  from  his  kingdom,  and  so  deprived  the  Pope 
of  all  his  French  revenues.  Other  angry  words  and 
acts  followed,  and  a  papal  bull  was  publicly  burnt 
in  Paris. 

Boniface,  who  had  a  marked  predilection  for  vehe- 
ment language,  issued  a  bull,  which  deserves  to  be 
quoted  as  it  sums  up  the  extreme  papal  doctrine  and 
also  incidentally  reveals  how  completely  he  misunder- 
stood the  drift  of  public  opinion.  "  We  are  com- 
pelled, our  faith  urging  us,  to  believe  and  hold  — 
we  do  firmly  believe  and  simply  confess  —  that  there 
is  one  holy  and  Apostolic  Church,  outside  of  which 
there  is  neither  salvation  nor  remission  of  sins. 
...  In  this  Church  there  is  one  Lord,  one  faith, 
one  baptism.  ...  Of  this  one  and  only  Church 
there  is  one  body  and  one  head,  —  not  two  heads  as 
if  it  were  a  monster,  —  Christ,  namely,  and  the  Vicar 
of  Christ,  St.  Peter,  and  the  successor  of  St.  Peter. 


FALL   OF   THE   MEDLEVAL   PAPACY     149 

.  .  .  We  are  told  by  the  word  of  the  gospel  that  in 
this  His  fold  there  are  two  swords,  —  namely,  a 
spiritual  and  a  temporal.  .  .  .  Both  swords  .  .  .  are 
in  the  power  of  the  Church ;  the  one,  indeed,  to  be 
wielded  for  the  Church,  the  other  by  the  Church  ; 
the  one  by  the  hand  of  the  priest,  the  other  by  the 
hand  of  kings  and  knights,  but  at  the  will  and  suffer- 
ance of  the  priest.  One  sword,  moreover,  ought  to 
be  under  the  other,  and  the  temporal  authority  to  be 
subjected  to  the  spiritual.  .  .  .  That  the  spiritual 
exceeds  any  earthly  power  in  dignity  and  nobility  we 
ought  the  more  plainly  to  confess  the  more  spiritual 
things  excel  temporal  ones.  ...  A  spiritual  man 
judges  all  things,  but  he  himself  is  judged  by  no  one. 
This  authority,  moreover,  even  though  it  is  given  to 
man,  and  exercised  through  man,  is  not  human  but 
rather  divine,  being  given  by  divine  lips  to  Peter  and 
founded  on  a  rock  for  him  and  his  successors  through 
Christ  Himself  ;  the  Lord  Himself  saying  to  Peter  : 
'  Whatsoever  thou  shalt  bind,'  etc.  Whoever,  there- 
fore, resists  this  power  thus  ordained  by  God,  resists 
the  ordination  of  God.  Indeed,  we  declare,  an- 
nounce, and  define,  that  it  is  altogether  necessary 
to  salvation  for  every  human  creature  to  be  subject 
to  the  Roman  Pontiff." 

In  retort  the  king,  knowing  that  the  country  was 
behind  bun,  convoked  the  States-General  of  the 
kingdom;  which  upheld  him,  charged  Boniface  with 
all  sorts  of  misbehaviour,  and  called  for  a  general 
council  of  the  Church  to  judge  the  matters  in  die- 
pate. 

The  crafty  king,  however,  had  determined  on  other 


l.'.n         A   SHORT  HISTORY   OF  ITALY 

means  of  revenge  than  decrees,  accusations,  and  burn- 
ing bulls;  he  devised  a  plot  to  kidnap  Boniface  and 
let  eh  him  prisoner  to  France.  One  William  Noga- 
retj  once  a  professor  of  law  in  a  French  university, 
now  deep  in  the  king's  counsels,  went  to  Italy,  met 
a  vindictive  member  of  the  Colonna  family,  Sciarra 
Colon na,  and  the  two  arranged  the  details  of  the 
plot.  There  were  many  conspirators,  for  not  only  the 
Colonnas  were  eager  to  revenge  themselves,  but  nu- 
merous nobles,  dispossessed  to  make  room  for  the 
Pope's  relations,  were  ready  to  lend  a  hand.  The 
unsuspecting  Boniface,  now  an  old  man  of  eighty- 
six  years,  was  at  Anagni  (a  little  fortified  town  not 
far  from  Rome),  his  native  place,  but  nevertheless 
honeycombed  with  treason  ;  here,  from  the  pulpit  of 
the  cathedral  where  Emperors  had  been  excommu- 
nicated, he  proposed  to  excommunicate  the  King  of 
France.  Two  days  before  the  day  set  for  the  excom- 
munication, Nogaret  and  Sciarra  Colonna,  with  a 
troop  of  soldiers,  entered  the  city  which  had  been 
opened  by  traitors ;  many  of  the  townsmen  ranged 
themselves  under  the  French  banner.  The  conspira- 
tors broke  into  the  episcopal  palace,  where  they  found 
the  valiant  old  man  seated  on  a  throne,  in  his  pon- 
tifical garments,  with  the  tiara  on  his  head,  and 
a  cross  in  his  hand.  Sciarra  Colonna  dragged  him 
down  and  would  have  stabbed  him  with  his  dag-ger 
but  that  Nogaret  withheld  him  by  main  force.  The 
Pope  was  made  prisoner  and  the  palace  sacked  ;  but  in 
a  few  days  sympathy  turned,  papal  partisans  stormed 
the  palace,  rescued  Boniface,  and  carried  him  to  Rome. 
Here  the  Orsini,  pretending  to  befriend  him,   kept 


FALL  OF  THE   MEDLEVAL   PAPACY    151 

him  shut  up  in  the  Vatican,  half  crazed  by  fright 
and  fury,  till  death  happily  released  him  (October 
11,  1303).  Then  men  remembered  an  old  prophecy 
uttered  concerning*  him  :  "  He  shall  enter  like  a  fox, 
reign  like  a  lion,  and  die  like  a  dog."  Thus  drama- 
tically the  hollowness  of  papal  power  was  revealed. 

France  did  not  rest  content  with  this  insolent 
act.  A  year  or  two  later,  a  Frenchman  of  Gascony, 
the  archbishop  of  Bordeaux,  was  made  Pope  by 
the  French  king's  influence.  This  Pope,  Clement  V 
(1305-14),  never  went  to  Rome,  but  took  up  his 
abode  at  Avignon,  a  little  city  on  the  Rhone,  not 
very  far  from  its  mouth.  The  place  was  under  the 
overlordship  of  the  Angevin  kings  of  Naples,  but 
really  under  the  influence  of  the  kings  of  France. 
Here  the  Papacy  stayed  for  nearly  seventy  years, 
practically  a  dependency  of  France.  A  series  of 
French  Popes  succeeded  one  another.  They  built  on 
the  bank  of  the  Rhone  a  gigantic  fortress,  regarded 
Rome,  the  source  of  their  greatness,  as  a  dismal 
and  dangerous  out-of-the-way  place,  and  believed  that 
they  had  transferred  the  seat  of  the  Papacy  perma- 
nently. This  period  of  exile  was  regarded  by  the 
Italians  as  a  Babylonish  captivity. 

Political  degradation  was  not  all.  The  Roman 
Curia  became  a  collection  of  men  of  pleasure.  The 
ambitious  Popes,  even  Boniface,  had  had  a  touch  of 
the  heroic  in  them,  and  erred  through  pride,  arro- 
gance, and  hate  ;  but  these  A\ ignonese  Popes,  though 
some  of  them  were  good  men,  suffered  the  papal 
court  to  become  a  place  of  amusement,  banqueting, 
and  dissipation. 


CHAPTER   XVI 

LAST  FLICKER  OF  THE  EMPIRE   (1300-1313) 

After  the  Papacy  had  been  dragged  in  servitude  to 
France,  the  Empire,  like  a  dying  soldier  who  gets 
on  his  feet  to  shout  one  shout  of  triumph  over  his 
enemy's  fall,  made  a  last  gallant  effort  to  recover 
life  and  strength.  The  effort  was  very  gallant  but 
very  ineffectual,  and  owes  its  chief  celebrity  to  its 
connection  with  the  great  man,  who  summed  up  and 
reiterated  the  Imperial  creed,  somewhat  in  the  same 
way  that  Pope  Boniface  had  summed  up  and  reit- 
erated the  papal  creed.  Both  creeds  were  dead,  but 
each  man  believed  his  fervently,  and  as  Boniface's 
bulls  set  forth  the  doctrines  of  Hildebrand  and  In- 
nocent III,  so  Dante's  treatises  and  letters  set  forth 
the  beliefs  of  Barbarossa  and  Frederick  II. 

The  year  of  Boniface's  jubilee  is  the  year  to 
which  Dante  assigns  his  journey  to  the  abodes  of 
departed  spirits,  and  as  the  jubilee  marked  the  close 
of  the  mediaeval  Papacy,  so  the  "  Divine  Comedy  " 
marks  the  close  of  mediaeval  theology,  and  Dante 
himself  stands  as  the  greatest  mark  at  the  boundary 
between  the  old  world  passing  away  and  the  modern 
world  coming  in.  Giovanni  Villani,  who  was  about 
fifteen  years  younger,  described  him  in  this  way : 
"  He  was  deeply  versed  in  almost  all  learning,  al- 
though he  was  a  layman ;  he  was  a  very  great  poet, 


LAST  FLICKER   OF  THE   EMPIRE     153 

a  philosopher,  and  a  complete  master  of  rhetoric  in 
prose  and  verse  as  well  as  in  public  speech  ;  a  most 
noble  writer,  very  great  in  rhyme,  with  the  most 
beautiful  style  that  ever  was  in  our  language  up  to 
his  time  and  since.  In  his  youth  he  wrote  the  book 
on  '  The  New  Life  of  Love,'  and  then  when  he  was  in 
exile  he  composed  twenty  ethical  poems  and  many  ad- 
mirable poems  on  love ;  and  he  wrote  among  others 
three  noble  epistles  ;  one  he  sent  to  the  government 
of  Florence,  complaining  of  his  banishment  from 
no  fault  of  his ;  another  he  sent  to  the  Emperor 
Henry,  when  he  was  at  the  siege  of  Brescia,  blam- 
ing him  for  his  delay,  in  the  tone  of  a  prophet ;  the 
third  to  the  Italian  cardinals,  during  the  vacancy 
after  the  death  of  Pope  Clement  (V),  that  they 
should  come  to  an  accord  and  elect  an  Italian  Pope  ; 
all  in  Litin,  in  lofty  style,  with  excellent  reasonings 
and  appeals  to  authority,  which  were  much  praised 
by  men  of  judgment.  This  Dante  by  reason  of  his 
knowledge  was  somewhat  arrogant,  haughty,  and 
disdainful,  and,  like  an  ungracious  philosopher,  he 
could  not  talk  easily  with  unlearned  men  ;  but  be- 
cause of  his  other  merits,  the  learning  and  the  worth 
of  this  great  citizen,  it  seems  fitting  to  give  him 
perpetual  remembrance  in  this  chronicle  of  mine, 
notwithstanding  that  his  noble  works  left  to  us  in 
writing  bear  true  testimony  to  what  he  was  and 
confer  honourable  fame  upon  our  city."  ' 

Dante,  by  passage!  in  his  "  Divine  Comedy,"  but 
more  particularly  by  his  treatise  "De  Monarchia  " 
( On  Universal  Empire  i,  enables  us  to  understand  how 

1  Storia  di  Firenze,  lib.  ix,  cap.  cxxxv. 


154         A    SHORT    HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

the  Empire  could  raise  its  head  in  Italy  sixty  years 
after  Frederick  II  had  died.  In  Germany  after  an 
interregnum,  the  House  of  Hapsburg  had  mounted 
the  throne,  hut  no  one  had  ventured  to  cross  the 
Alps  for  the  Imperial  crown.  Nevertheless,  Dante 
and  the  Ghihellines  could  not  bring  themselves  to 
believe  that  the  old  familiar  institution  had  fulfilled 
its  function  and  was  to  be  cast  aside.  The  concep- 
tion of  Europe  as  a  group  of  equal  nations  had  not 
yet  arisen,  and  Ghihellines  still  believed  that  a  Ro- 
man Emperor  could  put  down  confusion,  anarchy, 
political  chaos,  and  cure  all  the  ills  of  Italy.  The 
Ghihellines  believed  in  the  Emperor  as  Mohamme- 
dans believed  in  Mohammed ;  if  he  should  return, 
exiles  (like  Dante)  would  be  restored,  peace  would 
bloom,  and  Rome  again  become  the  head  of  a  just 
and  universal  empire.  Dante,  in  the  "  De  Monar- 
chia,"  first  contends  that  universal  empire  is  neces- 
sary to  the  well-being  of  the  world  ;  having  estab- 
lished that  proposition,  he  argues  that  this  universal 
empire  rightly  belongs  to  the  Roman  people,  and 
proves  his  point  by  appeals  to  Virgil  and  the  New 
Testament ;  then  he  proceeds  to  show  that  the  au- 
thority of  the  Empire  is  derived  directly  from  God. 
"  Some  say,"  he  says,  "  that  Constantine  when 
he  was  cleansed  of  the  leprosy  by  the  prayers  of 
Silvester,  then  Pope,  gave  the  seat  of  the  Empire, 
to  wit  Rome,  to  the  Church,  together  with  many 
other  dignities  appertaining  to  the  Empire.  There- 
fore, they  argue,  since  then  no  one  can  receive  those 
dignities,  except  he  shall  receive  them  from  the 
Church,  to  whom  they  belong.   .   .   .  This  proposi- 


LAST   FLICKER  OF  THE   EMPIRE     155 

tion  I  deny ;  and  when  they  put  forth  their  proof, 
I  say  it  proves  nothing-,  because  Constantine  could 
not  alienate  the  dignities  of  the  Empire,  nor  the 
Church  receive  them.  .  .  .  No  man  has  a  right  to 
do  things  by  means  of  an  office  entrusted  to  him, 
which  go  directly  counter  to  that  office.  .  .  .  There- 
fore an  Emperor  has  no  right  to  divide  the  Empire 
.  .  .  and  the  Church  in  no  wise  is  able  to  receive 
temporal  things  because  the  precept  expressly  for- 
bids it,  as  we  have  it  in  Matthew  l  Provide  neither 
gold,  nor  silver,  nor  brass  in  your  purses,  nor  scrip 
for  your  journey,'  etc." 

This  Ghibelline  theory  was  in  flat  contradiction 
to  Boniface's  theory,  just  as  the  Imperial  creed  had 
always  contradicted  the  papal  creed.  In  Dante's 
time  the  two  conflicting  theories  seemed  to  have  be- 
come mere  ghosts  ;  when  of  a  sudden  the  Imperial 
theory  started  up  in  reality.  A  new  king  of  the  Ro- 
mans, Henry  VII,  announced  that  he  was  coming 
into  Italy  to  take  his  Imperial  crown.  The  Ghib- 
ellines  welcomed  him  with  boundless  enthusiasm. 
Dante,  in  undeserved  exile  from  Florence,  flushed 
with  the  hope  of  return  to  his  dearly  beloved  city, 
wrote  a  circular  letter  to  all  the  princes  of  Italy  :  — 

"  Behold  now  is  the  acceptable  time,  in  which 
arise  signs  of  consolation  and  peace.  For  a  new  day 
begins  to  shine,  showing  tin-  dawn  that  shall  dissi- 
pate the  darkness  of  long  calamity.    N<»w  tin;  breezes 

of  the  East  begin  to  blow,  the  lips  of  heaven  redden, 
and  with  serenity  comfort  the  hopes  of  the  peoples. 
And  we  who  have  passed  a  long  night  in  the  desert 

shall  see  tin-  expected  joy. 


150         A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

"  Rejoice,  0  Italy,  pitied  even  by  the  heathen,  now 
shalt  thou  be  the  envy  of  the  earth,  because  thy 
bridegroom,  the  comfort  of  the  world  and  the  glory 
of  the  people,  the  most  merciful  Henry,  Divus,  Au- 
gustus, Caesar,  hastens  to  thy  espousals.  Dry  thine 
eyes,  put  off  the  trappings  of  woe,  0  thou  Fairest ; 
for  he  is  at  hand  who  shall  free  thee  from  the  prison 
of  the  ungodly,  who  shall  smite  the  malignant,  and 
destroy  them  with  the  edge  of  the  sword,  and  shall 
give  his  vineyard  to  other  husbandmen,  who  will  ren- 
der the  fruits  of  justice  in  the  time  of  harvest." 

The  hope  that  Henry  would  restore  peace  and 
establish  order  warmed  even  the  Guelfs  ;  and  almost 
all  the  Italian  cities,  excepting  stubborn  Florence, 
sent  envoys  to  greet  him  as  he  came  to  take  the 
Imperial  crown.  The  French  Pope  was  greatly  per- 
plexed as  to  what  to  do.  On  the  one  hand,  he  had 
begun  to  wish  for  an  Emperor  to  subdue  the  Roman 
barons  and  to  be  a  counterweight  to  the  French  king, 
whom  he  found  too  masterful  a  protector ;  on  the 
other  hand,  he  was  afraid  to  displease  the  French 
king,  and  to  do  anything  that  might  set  the  Ghib- 
ellines  on  their  feet  again.  So  he  played  a  double 
game  :  he  encouraged  Henry  in  the  North,  and  in 
the  South  he  strengthened  the  Angevin  King  of 
Naples,  the  leader  of  the  Guelfs.  Henry  VII  crossed 
the  Alps  in  October,  1310.  He  was  brave,  honest, 
and  just ;  he  believed  devoutly  in  his  Imperial  mis- 
sion, desired  peace,  and  wished  to  be  Emperor  of 
Guelf  and  Ghibelline  alike.  At  first  all  went  well ; 
many  cities  opened  their  gates  and  received  Impe- 
rial vicars;  Milan  lowered  her  flags  as  Henry  en- 


LAST  FLICKER  OF  THE   EMPIRE     157 

tered,  and  her  Guelf  archbishop  put  the  iron  crown 
of  Lombardy  upon  his  head.  But  this  happy  calm 
could  not  last  long.  Henry  was  poor,  he  asked  Milan 
for  a  great  deal  of  money,  and  then  demanded,  os- 
tensibly as  a  guard  of  honour  for  his  journey  to 
Rome  but  really  as  hostages,  fifty  noblemen  from 
each  of  the  two  parties.  The  Ghibellines  assented : 
but  the  Guelfs  suspected  treachery  and  refused  ; 
their  leaders  fled  and  their  houses  were  sacked  and 
burned.  This  was  the  end  of  peace.  Henry  at- 
tempted to  enforce  obedience.  He  sacked  Cremona, 
razed  her  walls  to  the  ground,  and  laid  siege  to 
Brescia.  The  horrors  of  the  siege  were  fearful ; 
the  citizens  fought  with  desperation,  but  yielded 
at  last  to  famine  and  pestilence.  The  unfortunate 
Henry  had  how  been  forced  into  the  old  position 
of  German  tyrant  and  Ghibelline  party  chief ;  and, 
instead  of  marching  directly  on  Rome,  or  on  rich 
Florence  which  was  the  head  and  front  of  the  Guelf 
cause  in  the  North,  he  had  wasted  valuable  time  in 
taking  unimportant  cities.  The  Ghibellines  were  in 
a  fever  of  impatience.    Dante  wrote  :  — 

u  To  the  most  holy  Conqueror,  and  only  lord,  our 
lord  Henry,  by  divine  providence  King  of  the  Ro- 
mans, ever  Augustus,  your  Dante  Alighieri,  a  Flor- 
entine and  undeserving  exile,  and  all  Tuscans  every- 
where, who  wish  for  peace  on  earth,  kiss  your  feet. 

"  For  a  long  time  have  we  wept  by  the  rivers  of 
confusion,  and  have  incessantly  prayed  for  the  pro- 
tection of' a  just  king,  who  should  .  .  .  put  us  back 
in  our  just  rights.  When  you,  successor  of  Ciesar 
and  Augustus,  crossing  the  ridges  of  the  Apennines, 


158         A    SHOUT   HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

brought  back  the  venerable  insignia  of  Rome  .  .  . 
like  tlif  sun  suddenly  uprising,  new  hope  of  better 
time  for  Italy  shone  out.  But  now  men  think  you 
delay,  or  surmise  that  you  are  going  back  .  .  .  and 
we  are  constrained  by  doubt  to  stand  uncertain  and 
to  cry,  like  John  the  Baptist,  Art  thou  he  that  should 
come,  or  do  we  look  for  another?  .  .  .  Do  you  not 
know,  most  excellent  of  Princes,  do  you  not  see 
Prom  the  watch-tower  of  your  exalted  height,  where 
the  stinking  little  fox  lurks,  safe  from  the  hunters? 
In  truth,  the  evil  beast  does  not  drink  of  the  head- 
long Po,  nor  of  your  Tiber,  but  its  wickedness  pol- 
lutes the  rushing  waters  of  the  Arno,  and  the  name 
of  this  dire,  pernicious  creature  (do  you  not  know?) 
is  Florence.  She  is  the  viper  turned  against  the 
breast  of  its  mother  ;  she  is  the  sick  sheep  that  con- 
taminates the  whole  herd  of  her  master.  Indeed  with 
the  fierceness  of  a  viper  she  strives  to  tear  her  mother  ; 
she  sharpens  the  horns  of  rebellion  against  Rome, 
who  made  her  in  her  own  image  and  likeness.   .   .   . 

"  Up,  then,  break  this  delay,  take  confidence  from 
the  eyes  of  the  Lord  God  of  Hosts,  in  whose  sight 
you  act,  and  lay  low  this  Goliath  with  the  sling  of 
your  wisdom  and  the  stone  of  your  strength  ;  for 
with  his  death  the  dark  night  of  fear  shall  cover  the 
camp  of  the  Philistines,  and  they  shall  flee,  and  Israel 
shall  be  set  free.  And  just  as  now,  exiles  in  Baby- 
lon, we  mourn  remembering  holy  Jerusalem,  so,  then, 
citizens  and  at  home,  we  shall  breathe  in  peace  and 
turn  the  miseries  of  confusion  into  joy. 

"  Written  in  Tuscany  .  .  .  fourteen  days  before 
the  kalends  of  May,  1311,  in  the  first  year  of  the 


LAST  FLICKER   OF  THE   EMPIRE     159 

coming  into  Italy  of  the  divine  and  most  happy 
Henry." 

Henry  did  go  south,  hut  there  were  greater  obsta- 
cles in  his  way  than  Dante  imagined.  The  spirit  of 
the  age  was  against  him.  It  was  vain  to  try  to  bring 
back  the  past.  Florence  shut  her  gates,  manned  her 
walls,  sent  more  money  to  his  enemies,  and  headed 
a  league  of  the  Guelf  cities  in  Tuscany  and  Umbria. 
Even  Rome  was  half  against  him.  The  Ghibelline 
nobles  received  him  and  took  him  to  their  part  of 
the  town;  but  the  Guelfs  held  St.  Peter's,  and 
though  there  was  fierce  fighting  in  the  streets,  the 
Guelfs  stood  their  ground,  and  Henry  was  forced  to 
receive  the  Imperial  crown  from  the  papal  legate 
(the  Pope  was  too  prudent  to  leave  Avignon)  in  the 
basilica  of  St.  John  Lateran.  Here  the  luckless 
Emperor  stayed  for  a  time  in  the  midst  of  ruin, 
material,  political,  and  moral.  Then  he  attempted 
to  crush  Florence,  the  ringleader  of  disobedience, 
but  her  walls  were  too  strong ;  the  impotent  Em- 
peror could  do  no  more  than  harry  the  country-side. 
He  fell  back  upon  Ghibelline  Pisa,  and  set  patiently 
to  work  to  gather  together  a  new  army.  The  Ghib- 
ellines  gallantly  responded  to  his  call,  and  Henry 
actually  set  forth  on  his  way  to  Naples,  to  punish 
the  House  of  Anion  and  avenge  the  Hohenstaufens, 
but  death  cut  short  his  lofty  plans.  He  died  in  a 
little  town  near  Siena  L313),  and  the  hopes  of  Dante 
and  the  Ghibellines  were  ruined  forever.  The  last 
flicker  of  the  Empire  had  gone  out. 

Other  Emperors,  it  is  true,  crossed  the  Alps,  but 
not    BS    masters.    The   connection  of  Italy  with  the 


100        A   SHORT  HISTORY   OF  ITALY 

Holy  Roman  Empire  ends  with  the  death  of  the  gal- 
lant Henry.  The  mediaeval  Papacy  and  the  mediaeval 
Empire  had  passed  away,  for  the  Middle  Ages  them- 
selves had  come  to  an  end. 


CHAPTER   XVn 

A  REVIEW  OF   THE  STATES  OF  ITALY   (about  1300) 

Now  that  the  two  great  actors,  whose  long-drawn 
quarrel  has  been  the  main  thread  of  Italian  history, 
have  made  their  exits,  and  left  us,  as  it  were,  with  a 
sense  of  emptiness,  it  becomes  necessary  to  call  the 
roll  and  make  a  better  acquaintance  with  the  lesser 
dramatis  personal,  who  step  to  the  front  of  the 
stage  and  carry  on  the  plot  of  history.  The  pro- 
gramme reads  as  follows  :  — 

DRAMATIS    PERSONS 

The  Papacy An  absentee. 

The  Empire A  shadow. 

The  Kingdom  of  Naples    .  House  of  Anjou  reigning. 

The  Kingdom  of  Sicily      .  House  of  Aragon  reigning. 

Florence A  Guelf  democracy. 

Siena)  _,,  .,    „. 

-p.        r Glnbelhne  cities. 

Genoa A  maritime  aristocracy. 

Venice A  maritime  oligarchy. 

Milan A  Lombard  commune. 

Savoy A  feudal  county. 

Guelf  cities  of  Tuscany,  communes  of  Loni- 
bardy,  petty  marquisates  of   the  northwest, 
etc. 

In  the  South,  the  kingdom  of  the  Two  Sicilies 
has  already  been  torn  in  two.  Charles  of  Anjou,  the 
conqueror  of  the  Hohenatanfena,  clever,  shrewd, 


L62         A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

and  capable  as  he  was,  had  overreached  himself. 
He  entertained  great  ambitions,  and  was  dreaming 
of  Constantinople  and  its  imperial  crown,  when 
a  rebellion  known  as  the  Sicilian  Vespers  broke 
out  in  Sicily.  The  country  had  been  overrun  with 
French  office-holders  and  French  soldiers,  and  the 
Sicilians,  who  regretted  the  Hohenstaufens,  had 
reached  the  utmost  limit  of  endurance.  The  whole 
island  had  become  a  powder-box;  it  was  a  mere 
matter  of  accident  where  and  how  the  powder  would 
ignite.  A  French  soldier  insulted  a  woman  on  her 
way  to  church.  In  a  moment  he  was  killed  and  his 
fellow  soldiers  massacred  to  a  man.  "  Death  to  the 
French  !  "  resounded  over  the  island,  and  the  infu- 
riated Sicilians  put  all  to  the  sword.  The  revolu- 
tionists needed  a  leader,  and,  as  the  old  Norman 
blood  royal  still  survived  in  Manfred's  daughter, 
they  invited  her  husband,  King  Pedro  of  Aragon,  to 
be  their  king.  Pedro  accepted,  and  he  and  his  de- 
scendants, the  House  of  Aragon,  made  good  their 
claim  to  the  throne  of  Sicily  against  all  the  attempts 
of  the  House  of  Anjou  and  of  the  lords  suzerain, 
the  Popes,  to  oust  them.  By  this  revolution,  Sicily 
was  separated  from  the  Kingdom  of  Naples  for  more 
than  a  hundred  years. 

In  the  centre  of  Italy  there  wras  great  disorder.  The 
lords  of  the  Papal  States  remained  at  Avignon,  and 
attempted  to  govern  their  dominions  by  legates  ;  but 
though  their  sovereignty  nominally  extended  from 
tin  Tyrrhene  Sea  to  the  Adriatic,  they  were  impo- 
tent to  enforce  it.  There  was  no  unity ;  each  town 
was  governed  separately  by  a  papal   legate,  by  a 


REVIEW  OF  THE   ITALIAN   STATES     163 

powerful  baron,  or  by  a  communal  government. 
Rome  itself,  which  in  the  absence  of  the  Popes  had 
dwindled  to  a  little  city  of  ruins,  towers,  churches, 
vineyards,  and  vegetable  gardens,  was  in  constant 
disorder.  The  towns  near  by  were  often  faithful  to 
their  allegiance,  but  across  the  Apennines  the  ob- 
stinate little  cities  between  the  mountains  and  the 
sea  were  almost  always  independent.  At  present 
there  is  nothing  of  sufficient  interest  to  prevent  us 
from  treating  Rome  as  carelessly  as  the  Popes  did, 
and  passing  hurriedly  through  to  Florence  and  the 
independent  communes  of  Northern  Italy  where  we 
must  pause. 

Prior  to  the  wars  between  the  Empire  and  the  Pa- 
pacy feudal  institutions  had  prevailed  there,  though 
with  less  vigour  in  Northern  Italy  than  elsewhere  in 
Europe,  and  all  the  land  had  been  divided  up  into 
various  fiefs,  in  which  counts  and  marquesses  held 
sway.  During  those  wars  the  cities  shook  off  Im- 
perial dominion  and  got  rid  of  Imperial  rulers,  and 
began  their  careers  as  independent  Italian  com- 
munes. Most  of  these  cities  were  of  old  Roman 
foundation,  but  the  time  of  Hildebrand  and  Henry 
IV  may  be  deemed  their  nativity,  as  then  they  first 
appear  in  Italian  history  as  individuals.  All  these 
towns  were  little  republics,  each  with  its  own  char- 
acter, but  all  conforming  more  or  less  to  a  general 
type.  Within  massive  walls  the  city  clustered  round 
two  main  points,  the  cathedral,  which  was  Hanked 
by  belfry  and  baptistery,  and  the  pi OZZQ  (public 
Square),  on  which  fronted  the  PaldZZO  PtlbbUco, 
the  city  hall,  where  the  magistrates  had  their  offices. 


K,4         A    SHORT    HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

Round  abotri  and  radiating  off,  houses  and  palaces, 
grim  and  heavy,  stood  high  above  the  narrow  streets. 
Scattered  here  and  there  scores  of  private  fortresses 
raised  their  great  towers  thirty  yards  and  more  into 
the  air.  Street,  palace,  tower,  all  were  obviously 
ready  for  street  warfare,  waiting  on  tiptoe  for  the 
bells  to  rinfir. 

The  citizens  were  divided  into  three  classes.  The 
upper  class  included  the  old  nobility,  the  high  clergy, 
the  large  merchants,  the  rich  bankers ;  the  middle 
class  included  the  petty  merchants,  the  tradesfolk, 
the  master  artisans ;  and  below  them  came  the  mis- 
cellaneous many.  In  some  cities  the  nobility,  allying 
itself  with  the  proletariat,  held  the  political  power. 
But  in  the  more  democratic  cities,  like  Florence,  the 
trades  and  crafts  controlled  the  government.  In 
Florence  there  were  seven  greater  guilds,  —  judges 
and  notaries,  wool-merchants,  refiners  and  dyers  of 
foreign  wool,  silk-dealers,  money-changers,  physi- 
cians and  apothecaries,  furriers ;  and  fourteen  lesser 
guilds,  —  butchers,  shoemakers,  masons,  carpenters, 
blacksmiths,  and  so  on.  Every  freeman  was  obliged 
to  belong  to  one  of  the  guilds ;  Dante  was  enrolled 
in  the  guild  of  physicians  and  apothecaries.  Trades 
and  crafts  descended  from  father  to  son,  and  each 
guild  was  divided  into  masters,  journeymen,  and  ap- 
prentices. 

In  the  government,  executive,  legislative,  and  ju- 
dicial powers  were  distinguished,  but  not  strictly 
separated.  The  executive  power  was  vested  in  one 
man,  or  in  several  men,  who  were  assisted  by  a  kind 
of  privy  council.   This  council  superintended  various 


REVIEW   OF   THE   ITALIAN   STATES      165 

matters  of  public  concern,  such  as  weights,  measures, 
highways,  and  fines.  There  was  also  a  larger  coun- 
cil, to  which,  as  well  as  to  public  office  generally, 
only  the  enfranchised  citizens  were  eligible.  These 
privileged  persons  were  never  more  than  a  small  frac- 
tion of  the  population ;  in  Florence,  for  instance, 
barely  three  thousand,  even  in  her  populous  days. 
Finally,  there  was  a  parliament  or  assembly  of  all 
the  free  citizens,  which  met  on  the  piazza,  and  shouted 
approval  or  disapproval  to  such  questions  as  were 
submitted  to  it. 

In  the  earlier  days  the  joint  executives  were  called 
consuls.  Their  places  were  not  easy.  If  they  were 
fair  to  all,  they  displeased  their  own  party  ;  if  unfair 
to  the  opposite  party,  they  were  liable  to  retaliation. 
The  difficulties  of  partisanship  led  to  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  new  officer,  the  podeata.  The  name  and 
idea  came  from  the  governors  put  in  the  Imperial 
cities  by  Barbarossa.  The  podesta,  who  was  elected 
by  the  citizens,  supplanted  the  consuls  in  all  their 
more  important  functions ;  he  became  the  head  of 
both  the  civil  and  the  military  service,  a  kind  of 
governor.  He  was  a  nobleman,  chosen,  in  the  hope 
of  avoiding  local  partisanship,  from  some  other 
Italian  city.  The  citizens,  if  Guelf,  of  course  chose 
a  Guelf;  if  Ghibelline,  a  Ghibelline.  When  the  »o- 
(ft>sfa.s  term  of  office,  which  was  usually  six  months 

or  a  year,  began,  he  came  to  the  city  bringing  two 

knights,  Beveral  judges,  councillors,  and  notaries,  a 
Benescha]  and  attendants,  and  in  the  piazza  took  his 
oath  of  office,  — to  observe  the  laws,  to  do  justice, 
and    to    wrong   no    man.     His   duties,  and   often    his 


1GG         A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

movements,  were  carefully  prescribed;  sometimes 
he  was  Dot  allowed  to  enter  any  house  in  the  city 
other  than  the  palace  prepared  for  him.  At  the  end 
of  his  term  he  was  obliged  to  linger  for  a  time,  in 
order  to  give  anybody  who  might  be  aggrieved  an 
opportunity  to  lodge  a  complaint  against  him  and 
obtain  redress.  Such  was  the  ordinary  form  of  com- 
munal government;  but  the  constitutions  varied  in 
different  cities,  and  in  each  city  shifted  every  few 
years,  as  class  feeling,  partisan  enmity,  or  new  men 
Buersrested  changes. 

The  prosperity  and  power  of  these  communes  came 
from  trade,  and  show  how  trade  prospered  and  riches 
accumulated.  Some  merchant  guilds  carried  on  a 
very  extensive  business.  Take  the  wool  guild  of 
Florence.  Tuscany  yielded  a  poor  quality  of  wool, 
and  as  it  was  impossible  to  weave  good  cloth  from 
poor  wool,  these  Florentine  merchants  imported  raw 
wool  from  Tunis,  Barbary,  Spain,  Flanders,  and  Eng- 
land, wove  it  into  cloth  so  deftly  that  foreigners 
could  not  compete  with  them,  and  exported  it  to 
the  principal  markets  of  Europe.  Trade  with  the 
North,  however,  was  less  important  than  trade  with 
the  East.  Merchandise  was  carried  over  the  seas 
more  easily  than  over  the  Alps,  and  in  many  respects 
the  products  of  the  East  were  better  and  more  va- 
ried than  those  of  northern  Europe.  The  Italians 
loaded  the  galleys  of  Venice,  Genoa,  and  Pisa  with 
silken  and  woollen  stuffs,  oil,  wine,  pitch,  tar,  and 
common  metals,  and  brought  back  from  Alexan- 
dria, Constantinople,  and  the  ports  of  Asia  Minor 
and  Syria,  pearls,  gold,  spices,  sugar,  Eastern  silk, 


REVIEW   OF  THE   ITALIAN   STATES      167 

wool  and  cotton,  goatskins  and  dyes,  and  sometimes 
Eastern  slaves.  Such  a  wide  commerce  outstripped 
the  capacity  of  barter  and  cash,  and  gave  rise  to  a 
system  of  banking,  with  its  attendant  credits  and 
bills  of  exchange.  The  quick-witted  Florentines 
excelled  at  this  business,  and  great  banking  houses, 
like  the  Bardi  and  the  Peruzzi,  had  branches  or  cor- 
respondents in  all  the  chief  cities. 

This  large  commerce  in  face  of  the  obstacles  that 
barred  its  way  seems  extraordinary.  A  city  like 
Florence,  for  instance,  especially  in  the  earlier  days, 
was  greatly  hampered  by  the  conditions  about  her. 
Outside  her  walls,  within  the  radius  of  a  dozen  or 
twenty  miles,  were  castles  manned  by  arrogant  no- 
bles, who  made  traffic  unsafe.  They  would  not  con- 
form to  the  new  economic  condition  of  society 
except  upon  compulsion.  Rival  cities  refused  to 
let  Florentine  wares  pass  through  their  territories 
without  payment  of  ruinous  tolls.  Wars  were 
waged  to  moderate  these  exactions.  Or,  again,  war 
was  necessary  to  enforce  the  rights  of  Florentine 
citizens  in  other  cities.  Moreover,  each  city  had  its 
own  system  of  weights  and  measures,  its  own  coin- 
age  ;  each  imposed  customs  on  all  wares  entering  its 
gates,  in  earliei  days  so  much  a  cart-load,  afterwards 
a  percentage  of  the  value.  On  all  highways,  at  all 
bridges  and  fords,  there  were  tolls  to  be  paid.  From 
city  to  city  a  merchant  had  to  change  his  money, 
until  in  later  times  certain  coins,  like  the  Florentine 
florin,  passed  current  everywhere;  and  sometimes,  on 
entering  tie-  gates,  In-  was  obliged  to  adopt  a  distin- 
guishing badge,  a-,  for  instance,  according  to  the 


168         A    SHORT    HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

usage  al  Bologna,  putting  a  piece  of  red  wax  on  his 
thumb-nail.  These  were  the  fetters  placed  on  trade 
in  time  of  peace  ;  but  peace  itself  was  transitory  and 
uncertain.  Apart  from  the  wars  with  the  Emperor, 
the  cities  periodically  fought  the  feudal  nobility,  or 
one  another.  Venice  made  war  on  Ravenna,  Pisa  on 
Lucca,  Vicenza  on  Treviso,  Fano  on  Pesaro,  Verona 
on  Padua,  Modena  on  Bologna,  and  the  greater  cities, 
like  Milan  and  Florence,  on  any  or  all  of  their  re- 
spective neighbours.  When  a  city  had  no  absorbing 
war  abroad,  factions  fought  at  home.  Burghers  and 
nobles  barricaded  the  streets,  manned  the  towers, 
rang  the  bells,  shot  and  hacked  one  another  with 
spasmodic  fury.  The  burghers  generally  won.  They 
then  banished  hundreds  of  their  adversaries,  and 
made  laws  against  them.  In  some  cities  a  register 
was  kept  to  record  the  names  of  the  nobles  whose 
democracy  was  suspected  ;  in  others,  as  in  Lucca,  no- 
bles were  excluded  from  all  share  in  the  government, 
and  were  not  allowred  to  testify  against  burghers. 
In  Pisa,  if  there  was  disquiet  in  the  streets,  the  no- 
bles were  obliged  to  stay  indoors. 

These  factions  called  themselves  Guelfs  and  Ghibel- 
lines.  At  first  Guelfs  were  the  burghers  of  the  com- 
munes and  partisans  of  the  Papacy,  and  Ghibellines 
partisans  of  the  Empire  and  the  feudal  system  ;  but 
subsequently  the  terms  merely  served  to  distinguish 
political  parties,  whose  platforms,  as  wre  should  say, 
shifted  with  questions  of  the  hour.  Even  when  these 
two  factions  were  at  peace,  they  distinguished  them- 
selves by  different  badges  and  fashions.  The  mer- 
lons of  the  Guelf  battlements  were  square,  those  of 


REVIEW  OF   THE   ITALIAN   STATES     169 

the  Ghibelline  swallow-tailed.  Good  party  men  wore 
caps  of  diverse  pattern,  did  their  hair  differently, 
cut  their  bread  and  folded  their  napkins  in  different 
ways.  It  was  enough  that  one  side  should  bow,  take 
an  oath,  harness  a  horse,  in  one  mode,  for  the  other 
side  to  start  a  contrary  fashion. 

The  growth  of  population,  of  property,  of  com- 
merce, however,  shows  that  history  may  easily  dwell 
too  much  upon  fighting  and  war.  In  these  petty 
wars  and  street  frays,  the  numbers  engaged  were 
few,  and  but  little  blood  was  shed.  Most  of  the 
fighting  was  a  consequence  of  economic  difficulties. 
It  was  the  mediaeval  equivalent  of  strikes,  lock-outs, 
boycotts,  undersellings,  rivalries,  riots,  and  other  phe- 
nomena of  modern  industry. 

The  maritime  cities  were  in  a  very  different  posi- 
tion from  the  inland  cities,  and  had  a  different  his- 
tory. They  enjoyed  great  advantages  for  trade. 
No  feudal  barons  could  bar  the  sea,  and  pirates 
and  infidels  were  not  serious  impediments.  Greater 
commercial  prosperity,  however,  begot  more  bitter 
commercial  jealousy.  Genoa  hated  Pisa;  no  Geno- 
ese Bailor  could  endure  the  cut  of  a  Pisan  sail.  Both 
cities  had  a  large  trade  in  the  Levant,  and  being  so 
near  each  other  became  deadly  rivals.  They  fought 
spasmodically  for  years,  from  the  Gulf  of  Genoa  to 
the  Black  Sea,  and  at  last  came  to  the  death  grapple. 
The  time  was  unfortunate  Bor  Ghibelline  Pisa,  as  a 
Gruelf  league  had  been  attacking  her  on  land.  The 
decisive  battle  was  fought  off  the  island  of  Melo- 
ria,  a  few  miles    from  the  month  of   the  Arno.    The 

Genoesej  who  outnumbered  the  Pisansj  won  a  great 


170         A   SHORT   IIISTOKY   OF   ITALY 

victory,  destroyed  or  captured  many  galleys,  and 
took  ten  thousand  prisoners  (1284).  Pisa  never  re- 
covered  from  this  blow.  Florence  and  Lucca  took 
immediate  advantage  of  it  to  unite  with  Genoa,  and 
force  Pisa  to  submit  to  a  Guelf  government ;  and 
from  this  time  on  greedy  Florence,  like  a  hawk, 
kept  her  eyes  fixed  on  poor  Pisa,  impatient  for  the 
time  when  she  should  seize  her  prey. 

Genoa  remained  a  republic,  active,  eager,  im- 
petuous, torn  by  factions  and  subject  to  many  vicis- 
situdes, but  lack  of  space  compels  us  to  leave  her 
and  pass  on  to  where  "  Venice  sits  in  state,  throned 
on  her  hundred  isles."  She,  queen  of  the  sea,  had 
even  a  more  lavish  portion  of  individuality  than  her 
sister  cities,  individual  as  they  all  were,  and  hardly 
belonged  to  Italy,  so  completely  did  she  hold  herself 
aloof  from  the  two  great  interests  of  mediaeval  Italy, 
the  Empire  and  the  Papacy.  No  cries  of  Pope's  men 
and  king's  men,  of  Guelf  and  Ghibelline,  disturbed 
the  Grand  Canal  or  the  Piazza  of  St.  Mark's  ;  no 
feudal  incumbrances  hampered  her  mercantile  spirit, 
nor  did  papal  anathemas  cause  a  single  Venetian 
ship  to  shift  her  course.  Venice  had  long  remained 
loyal  to  Constantinople,  and  even  after  all  political 
dependence  had  ceased,  was,  in  character  and  aspect, 
more  a  Constantinople  of  the  West  than  an  Italian 
city,  a  grown-up  daughter,  more  beautiful  than  her 
beautiful  mother,  who,  living  her  own  triumphant  and 
unfUial  life,  still  retained  many  of  her  mother's  traits. 
Untroubled  by  sentiment,  even  in  the  Crusades, 
Venice  always  kept  steadily  in  view  her  fixed  purpose 
of  increasing  her  commerce  and  of  securing  foreign 


REVIEW  OF  THE   ITALIAN   STATES     171 

markets;  and  this  purpose  shaped  her  political  ac- 
tions, and  also,  indirectly,  the  form  of  her  government. 
Originally  the  citizens,  assembled  in  public  meet- 
ing, elected  the  Doge,  and  exercised  a  right  to  vote 
on  important  political  matters ;  but  the  great  fam- 
ilies soon  acquired  control,  and  little  by  little  turned 
the  government  into  an  oligarchy.  The  first  great 
step  was  taken  in  Barbarossa's  time,  just  when  the 
Lombard  cities  were  struggling  to  free  themselves 
from  Imperial  dominion.  A  Great  Council  of  four 
hundred  and  eighty  members  was  established,  to 
which  were  given  the  powers  of  legislation,  appoint- 
ment, electing  the  Doge,  and  filling  vacancies  in 
itself.  The  franchises  of  the  people  were  all  taken 
away  and  the  oligarchy  left  supreme.  This  oligarchy 
of  merchant  princes,  in  whom  patriotism,  pride  of 
place,  and  love  of  gain  harmoniously  accorded,  was 
an  exceedingly  competent  body  of  men.  The  great- 
ness of  Venice  was  their  greatness,  and  they  pursued 
it  devotedly.  Beginning  early  in  life  these  patricians 
were  trained  for  their  duties  by  service  in  the  navy 
and  in  the  merchant  marine,  or  by  employment  in 
the  government  of  the  various  cities,  islands,  and 
territories  included  in  the  long  stretch  of  coastwise 
empire.  Knowing  that  Venice  lived  by  commerce 
they  made  every  effort  by  war,  diplomacy,  and  pri- 
vate enterprise,  to  extend  thai  commerce.  After  the 
conquest  and  division  of  the  Eastern  Empire  (1204) 
they  became  more  eager  than  ever  for  a  monopoly 
of  trade  with  the  Levant,  and  inevitably  came  into 
deadly  rivalry  with  Genoa,  also  passionately  eager 
to  bold  the  gorgeous  Easl  iii  fee. 


172         A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

The  wars  with  Genoa,  destructive  though  they 
were  for  the  time  being,  were  of  service  to  the  aris- 
tocracy, lor  they  made  the  Venetians  appreciate  the 

value  of  a  compact  governing  body;  and  the  aristo- 
cracy took  advantage  of  that  appreciation  to  tighten 
its  hold  on  the  government. 

Throughout  the  thirteenth  century  the  Great 
Council,  though  it  consisted  entirely,  or  almost  en- 
tirely, of  patricians  and  elected  its  own  members, 
had  been  open  to  ajl  classes.  Any  citizen,  however 
unlikely  to  be  elected,  was  eligible.  At  the  close  of 
the  century  the  patricians  secured  the  enactment 
of  a  series  of  measures,  which  in  substance  divided 
the  citizens  into  two  classes,  those  Avhose  ancestors 
had  sat  in  the  Great  Council,  and  those  whose  an- 
cestors had  not,  and  decreed  that  only  members  of 
the  first  class  should  be  eligible.  This  legislation  is 
known  as  the  closing  of  the  Great  Council.  As  all 
those  who  were  eligible  naturally  wished  to  become 
members,  the  Council  gradually  increased  until  it 
finally  numbered  over  fifteen  hundred.  The  patri- 
cians also  further  curtailed  the  powers  of  the  Doge, 
divided  the  various  functions  of  government  among 
the  main  sub-divisions  of  the  Council,  —  the  Sen- 
ate, the  Council  of  Forty,  the  Doge's  cabinet,  and  the 
Council  of  Ten,  —  and  gave  to  the  State  the  definite 
form  of  ofovernment  which  it  maintained  to  its  end. 

From  Venice  we  must  pass  by  Milan  and  the 
cities  of  the  Po,  to  where  in  the  extreme  Northwest 
the  Counts  of  Savoy,  perched  on  the  Alps,  main- 
tained a  precarious  sovereignty  over  both  slopes, 
with  no  resources  except  the  muscles  of  their  moun- 


REVIEW   OF   THE   ITALIAN   STATES     173 

taineers  and  the  possession  of  Alpine  passes.  Little 
did  the  proud  maritime  cities,  Genoa  and  Venice, 
the  great  inland  cities,  Milan  and  Florence,  and  Rome 
least  of  all,  suspect  that  these  poor  counts  would  one 
day  consolidate  all  the  territory  from  the  foot  of 
the  mountains  to  the  Riviera  in  a  compact  little 
kingdom  (Piedmont),  and  from  that  as  a  pedestal, 
step  to  still  higher  honours.  The  House  of  Savoy 
runs  aristocratically  back  into  legend  ;  but  about 
the  year  1000,  a  certain  Humbert  of  the  White 
Hand,  emerging  from  historic  obscurity,  obtained 
the  city  of  Turin  and  part  of  Piedmont,  as  a  mar- 
riage portion  for  his  son,  and  thereby  secured  to  his 
house  a  footing  in  Italy  (1045).  In  the  course  of 
another  century  or  so  these  Savoyards  in  a  succes- 
sion of  Humberts  and  Amedeos,  brave,  shrewd,  and 
usually  successful  men,  extended  their  dominions  by 
war,  by  marriage,  and  by  bargains.  They  made  the 
most  of  their  position  as  door-keepers  to  Italy,  and 
exacted  various  privileges  from  needy  Emperors,  as 
the  price  of  passing-  the  Alps.  They  fought  rival 
counts,  waged  innumerable  petty  wars,  and  rightly 
Ot  wrongly  acquired  territories  which  are  now  parts 
of  France,  Switzerland,  and  Italy.  The  succession 
of  counts  reads  like  any  other  mediaeval  genealogy; 
and  their  exploits,  raids,  and  sieges  viewed  from  this 
cold  distance  have  a  somewhat  monotonous  similar- 
ity ;  hut    survival  proves  the  worth  and  valour  of 

the   stock,  and  when  after  long  cent  uries  the  people 

of  Italy  had  need  of  princes,  the  House  of  Savoy 

the    onlv  Doble    house   that    had    retained   power 
and  respect,     li  IS  a  luilliant  example  of  the  truth  of 


174         A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

the  saying  that  those  who  have  been  faithful  over  a 
few  things  shall  be  masters  over  many. 

Such  were  the  political  divisions  of  Italy  in  this 
transition  period  which  intervenes  between  the  de- 
parting Middle  Ages  and  the  incoming  Modern 
World. 


CHAPTER   XVIII 

THE    TRANSITION   FROM  THE    MIDDLE  AGES    TO    THE 
RENAISSANCE 

This  intervening"  period  —  the  twilight  between  the 
Middle  Ages  and  the  dawn  of  the  Modern  World 
—  needs  a  little  further  emphasis,  from  the  very  fact 
that  it  is  a  period  of  transition  and  sheds  light  both 
on  the  time  before  and  the  time  after.  On  its  emo- 
tional side  it  belonged  to  the  Middle  Ages,  on  its 
intellectual  side  it  belonged  to  the  Modern  World. 

Its  religion  was  essentially  mediaeval.  For  in- 
stance, a  religious  wave  arose  in  Perugia,  spread 
through  Italy,  and  crossed  the  Alps.  Hosts  of  peni- 
tents, hundreds  and  thousands,  lamenting,  praying, 
scourging  themselves,  went  from  city  to  city.  Men, 
women,  and  children,  barefoot,  walked  by  night  over 
the  winter's  snowr,  carrying  tapers,  to  find  relief  for 
their  emotional  frenzy.  These  Flagellants  were  like 
;i  primitive  Salvation  Army,  and  gave  unconscious 
expression  to  the  profound  and  widespread  discon- 
tent with  the  Church.  Their  actions,  however,  so 
clearlv  exhibited  religions  mania  that  governments 
took  alarm  ;  the  hard-headed  rulers  of  Milan  erected 
six  hundred  gallows  on  their  borders  and  threatened 
to  hang  every  Flagellant  who  came  that  way. 

Other  forms  of  religious  sentiment  were  more 
rational,    and    expressed     themselves    in    passionate 


176         A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

calls  for  peace  between  neighbours  and  countrymen. 
Priests  adjured  the  fighting  cities  to  he  friends: 
"Oh,  when  will  the  day  come  that  Pavia  shall  sav 

to  Milan,  Thy  people  are  my  people,  and  Crema  to 
( Jremona,  Thy  city  is  my  city?"  In  Genoa,  one  morn- 
ing before  daybreak,  the  church  bells  rang,  and 
the  astonished  citizens,  huddling  on  their  clothes, 
beheld  their  archbishop,  surrounded  by  his  clergy 
with  lighted  candles,  making  the  factional  leaders 
swear  on  the  bones  of  St.  John  Baptist  to  lay  aside 
their  mutual  hate.  Gregory  X  (1271-70)  pleaded 
with  the  Florentine  Guelfs  to  take  back  the  ban- 
ished Ghibellines.  "  A  Ghibelline  is  a  Christian,  a 
citizen,  a  neighbour;  then,  shall  these  great  names, 
all  joined,  yield  to  that  one  word,  Ghibelline?  And 
shall  that  single  word  —  an  idle  term  for  none  know 
what  it  means  —  have  greater  power  for  hate  than 
all  those  three,  which  are  so  clear  and  strong,  for 
love  and  charity  ?  And  since  you  say  that  you  have 
taken  up  this  factional  strife  for  the  sake  of  the 
Popes  of  Rome,  now,  I,  Pope  of  Rome,  have  taken 
back  to  my  bosom  these  prodigal  citizens  of  yours, 
however  far  they  may  have  offended,  and  putting 
behind  me  all  past  wrongs,  hold  them  to  be  my 
sons."  '  In  consequence  of  Gregory's  passionate  en- 
treaty, one  hundred  and  fifty  leaders  of  each  party 
met  and  embraced  on  the  sandy  flats  of  the  Arno. 

The  most  famous  of  these  emotional  peace-mak- 
ings was  the  work  of  a  Dominican  monk  of  Vi- 
cenza.  On  a  great  plain  just  outside  Verona,  a 
vast  congregation  assembled  (a  contemporary  said 

1  Storia  degli  Italiani,  Cesare  Cantu,  vol.  ii,  p.  851  (19). 


THE   PEEIOD   OF  TRANSITION         177 

400,000  people),  from  all  the  warring  cities  far  and 
near,  bishops,  barons,  burghers,  artisans,  serfs,  wo- 
men, and  children.  The  monk  preached  upon  the 
text,  "  My  peace  I  give  unto  }Tou."  The  great  com- 
pany beat  their  breasts,  wept  for  repentance  and 
joy,  and  embraced  one  another.  Then  the  friar  raised 
the  crucifix  and  cried,  "  Blessed  be  he  who  shall 
keep  this  peace,  and  cursed  be  he  who  shall  vio- 
late it ;  "  and  the  audience  answered  "  Amen."  It  is 
hardly  necessary  to  say  that  these  emotional  peace- 
makings were  soon  followed  by  martial  emotions ; 
freed  prisoners  were  hurried  back  to  prison,  the  re- 
called were  banished  again,  and  sword  and  halberd 
were  picked  up  with  appetites  whetted  by  abstinence. 
The  intellectual  side  of  this  period  is  best  repre- 
sented by  the  universities,  which  had  sprung  up  in 
many  of  the  North  Italian  cities  in  the  preceding 
century.  The  term  university  signified  a  guild  of 
students,  and  possessed  many  of  the  characteristics 
of  our  colleges.  The  university  was  composed  of 
students  and  professors,  and  governed  itself.  It 
owned  neither  lands  nor  buildings,  and  in  case  of 
need  could  shift  its  abode  with  little  trouble.  The 
students,  at  Least  in  a  great  university  like  that  of 
Bologna  whither  young  men  flocked  by  thousands 
from   all   Europe,  were   divided   into   two   bodies, 

th086  from  beyond  the  Alps  and  Italians.     These  two 

bodies   were  subdivided  into  groups  according  t<> 

their  state  or  city.     Each   group  elected    representa- 
tives, and  these,  together  with  special  electors,  elected 

the  rector.   This  representative  body  made  a  formal 

treaty  with   the  town   authorities,  and  secured  good 


178         A   SHORT   HISTORY  OF   ITALY 

terms,  because  the  presence  of  a  university,  bringing 
money  and  fame,  was  of  great  consequence  to  the 
town.  The  professors  were  appointed  by  the  stu- 
dents. At  Bologna  Roman  law  was  the  chief  study, 
and  very  famous  jurists  lectured  there.  We  may  re- 
member that  Barbarossa  had  recourse  to  Bologna 
when  he  was  in  need  of  lawyers  to  determine  his  Im- 
perial rights.  It  was  Roman  law  that  attracted  the 
great  concourse  of  students,  for  the  growing  needs  of 
civilization  made  a  constant  demand  for  men  learned 
in  the  law  ;  but  other  branches  of  knowledge  were 
also  taught,  theology,  canon  law,  medicine,  and  as- 
trology, as  well  as  the  so-called  <jn<i<lrlvium,  music, 
arithmetic,  geometry,  and  astronomy. 

The  universities,  although  theology  and  canon  law 
were  taught  in  them,  distinctly  represented  the  secu- 
lar side  of  intellectual  life.  The  religious,  at  least  the 
theological  side,  was  represented  by  the  Church,  and 
more  particularly  by  those  philosophers  who  devoted 
themselves  to  that  mixture  of  theology  and  philoso- 
phy known  as  scholasticism.  The  greatest  of  them 
was  Thomas  Aquinas  (1227-74),  whose  surname 
is  derived  from  a  little  village,  Aquino,  once  ex- 
isting near  Monte  Cassino  in  Neapolitan  territory. 
Aquinas  lectured  at  various  universities.  His  great 
work,  "  Summa  TheologiaB,"  was  a  justification  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  faith  by  an  appeal  to  the  reason  and 
to  science  as  then  accepted.  He  started  on  premises 
laid  down  by  the  Church,  and  justified  all  the  de- 
rivative doctrines  by  close  logic  and  clear  reasoning, 
as  well  as  by  appeals  to  the  Bible,  to  Aristotle,  then 
deemed   the  possessor  of  all  knowledge,  and  to  the 


THE   PERIOD   OF  TRANSITION         179 

Church  fathers.  His  work  is  a  complete  exposition 
of  God,  nature,  and  man,  as  conceived  by  mediaeval 
theology,  and  is  still  taught  by  the  Catholic  Church 
as  the  true  exposition  of  its  doctrines.  The  grateful 
Church  canonized  him,  his  treatise  being  the  miracles 
he  had  performed,  and  named  him  the  Angelic  Doc- 
tor. Those  of  us  whose  minds  have  no  natural  ap- 
titude for  scholasticism,  find  his  views  on  purely 
earthly  matters  much  easier  to  understand,  and  not 
uninteresting,  as  they  throw  light  on  the  demo- 
cratic character  of  the  Church.  Speaking  of  positive 
law,  Aquinas  says  that  it  should  consist  of  "  reason- 
able commands  for  the  common  good,  promulgated  by 
him  who  has  charge  of  the  public  weal ; "  and  of  kings, 
that  "  a  prince  who  makes  personal  gratification  in- 
stead of  the  general  happiness  his  aim,  ceases  to  be 
legitimate,  and  it  is  not  rebellion  to  depose  him,  pro- 
vided the  attempt  shall  not  cause  greater  ills  than  his 
tyranny ; "  and,  of  the  nobility,  that  "  many  men  make 
a  mistake  and  deem  themselves  noble,  because  they 
come  of  a  noble  house.  .  .  .  This  inherited  nobility 
deserves  no  envy,  except  that  noblemen  are  bound  to 
virtue  for  shame  of  being  unworthy  of  their  stocks  ; 
true  nobility  is  only  of  the  soul."  St.  Thomas  Aquinas 
is  also  interesting  because  his  theology  inspires  Dante 
throughout  the  "  Divine  Comedy." 

These  diverse  traits,  emotional  and  intellectual, 
were  natural  to  a  period  of  transition,  when  society 
was  passing  from  an  age  in  which  the  chief  interests 
were  emotional  to  one  in  which  the  chief  interests 
were  intellectual;  and  it  is  interesting  to  notice 
that  at  the  Bame   time  BOCial   life  was  passing  from  a 


180         A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

Btage  of  extreme  simplicity  to  one  of  comparative 
luxury.  The  accumulation  of  wealth  had  its  effect 
in  every  department  of  life;  it  gave  people  time 
and  opportunity  for  intellectual  interests,  and  also 
for  luxury  and  more  delicate  needs.  The  advance 
in  wealth  was  very  rapid.  By  the  year  1300  men 
had  already  begun  to  blame  the  luxurious  habits 
of  their  time,  and  to  look  back  to  the  simplicity  of 
their  grandfathers  as  to  an  age  of  primitive  inno- 
cence. Dante  gives  full  expression  to  these  senti- 
ments through  the  mouth  of  his  ancestor,  Caccia- 
guida,  in  the  "  Paradiso."  Others  speak  in  the 
same  way.  One  of  them,  referring  to  the  time  of 
Frederick  II,  says :  "  In  those  times  the  manners ' 
of  the  Italians  were  rude.  A  man  and  his  wife  ate 
off  the  same  plate.  There  were  no  wooden-handled 
knives,  nor  more  than  one  or  two  drinking-eups  in 
a  house.  Candles  of  wax  or  tallow  were  unknown ; 
a  servant  held  a  torch  during  supper.  The  clothes 
of  men  were  of  leather  unlined ;  scarcely  any  gold 
or  silver  was  seen  on  their  dress.  The  common 
people  ate  flesh  but  three  times  a  week,  and  kept 
their  cold  meat  for  supper.  Many  did  not  drink 
wine  in  summer.  A  small  stock  of  corn  seemed 
riches.  The  portions  of  women  were  small ;  their 
dress,  even  after  marriage,  was  simple.  The  pride 
of  men  was  to  be  well  provided  with  arms  and 
horses ;  that  of  the  nobility  to  have  lofty  towers,  of 
which  all  the  cities  in  Italy  were  full.  But  now  fru- 
gality has  been  changed  for  sumptuousness  ;  every- 
thing exquisite  is  sought  after  in  dress,  — gold,  silver, 
pearls,  silks,  and  rich  furs.    Foreign  wines  and  rich 


THE   PERIOD   OF   TRANSITION  181 

meats   are  required.    Hence   usury,   rapine,  fraud, 
tyranny,"  etc.1 

To  us  to-day  this  period  of  transition,  with  its 
mediaeval  mixture  of  commerce,  religion,  and  war,  of 
emotion  and  logic,  of  admiration  for  St.  Augustine 
and  belief  in  the  infallibility  of  Aristotle,  looks  ex- 
tremely odd.  We  forget  that  our  generation  may  be 
in  danger  of  similar  criticism.  Odd  or  not,  this  was 
the  state  of  Italy  in  the  period  preceding  that  great 
burst  of  the  arts  and  intellectual  life  known  as  the 
Renaissance. 

1  Europe  in  the  Middle  Ages,  Hallam,  p.  630. 


CHAPTER   XIX 

THE    INTELLECTUAL    DAWN  AFTER    THE    MIDDLE    AGES 
(1260-1336) 

Though  the  beginning  of  the  Modern  World  mani- 
fested itself  in  every  department  of  life,  political, 
social,  and  intellectual,  it  is  best  known  to  us  through 
the  arts,  because  in  them  it  embodied  itself  in  per- 
manent forms.  Italy  suddenly  leaped  forward,  as  if 
she  had  drained  a  beaker  of  champagne.  To  explain 
and  illustrate  this  burst  of  passion,  the  books  gen- 
erally use  such  phrases  as  emphasis  upon  individu- 
ality, imitation  of  the  classic,  observation  of  nature, 
wider  range  of  interest,  the  awakening  of  spiritual 
energy,  etc.  No  doubt  the  phrases  are  just,  but  one 
must  remember  that  underneath  these  manifestations 
of  an  eager  interest  in  life,  there  actually  was  a 
larger,  happier  life,  due  in  great  measure  to  security, 
ease,  and  the  accumulation  of  property,  which  set 
men  free  from  the  bondage  of  continuous  daily 
labour  to  satisfy  corporal  needs.  Of  that  happier 
life,  with  its  gayety  and  luxury,  Villani,  the  his- 
torian of  Florence,  has  given  us  a  description.  He 
himself  was  a  boy  at  the  time.  "  In  the  year  of  Our 
Lord  1283  the  city  of  Florence,  chiefly  on  account 
of  the  Guelfs  who  were  in  power,  was  prosperous 
and  at  peace,  and  in  a  state  of  great  tranquillity, 
which  was  very  advantageous  to  the  merchants  and 


THE   INTELLECTUAL   DAWN  183 

artisans.  In  June,  at  the  Feast  of  St.  John,  in  the 
quarter  across  the  Arno,  where  the  Rossi  and  their 
neighbours  were  the  principal  people,  the  nobility 
and  the  rich  organized  themselves  into  a  company, 
and  adopted  a  dress  all  white,  and  chose  a  master 
called  the  Lord  of  Love.  The  object  of  the  company 
was  to  have  feasts,  games,  and  dances  for  the  ladies 
and  gentlemen  of  the  city,  and  other  persons  of 
quality.  They  used  to  parade  the  town  with  trum- 
pets and  other  musical  instruments,  and  had  great 
dinners  and  suppers  and  all  kinds  of  jollity.  The 
festivities  lasted  nearly  two  months,  and  were  the 
finest  and  most  celebrated  that  were  ever  held  in 
Florence  or  all  Tuscany.  Gentlemen  and  trouba- 
dours came  from  far  and  near,  and  all  were  received 
and  entertained  with  distinction.  And  it  is  worth 
remembering  that  the  city  and  its  citizens  were  bet- 
ter off  then  than  they  had  ever  been,  and  this  pros- 
perity continued  till  the  division  into  Burghers  and 
Or  audi.  There  were  then  in  Florence  three  hun- 
dred knights,  and  there  were  many  companies  of 
gentlemen  and  ladies,  who  morning  and  evening 
kept  open  table  richly  spread,  and  had  buffoons  in 
attendance,  so  that  from  Lombardy  and  all  Italy 
jesters,  players,  and  jugglers  came  to  Florence,  and 
all  wen-  welcome ;  and  whenever  a  stranger  of  dis- 
tinction passed  through  the  city  there  was  rivalry 
between  the  companies  to  get  him  as  their  guest. 
and  then  he  was  accompanied,  on  foot  or  on  horse- 
back, all  through  the  city  and  the  country  round. 
most  politely." 

This  was  the  light  and  careless  side  of  the  general 


184         A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

awakening  of  interest  in  life,  which  showed  itself  in 
so  many  Doblei  forms. 

In  literature  Dante  (12();~>-L>21)  is  the  first  great 
figure.  But,  owing  to  his  disproportional  importance, 
we  are  liable  to  forget  that  he  has  his  orderly  place 
in  the  revival  of  poetry  and  literature  which  began 
in  the  brilliant  court  of  Frederick  II  in  Sicily.  On 
the  destruction  of  the  Hohenstaufens,  the  poetic  pri- 
macy passed  to  Bologna,  where  Guido  Guinicelli  and 
others  composed  poetry  in  a  somewhat  learned  fash- 
ion, as  befitted  a  university  town,  and  then  passed 
on  to  Tuscany,  and  in  particular  to  Florence,  where 
Dante  was  preceded  by  his  friend  Guido  Oavalcanti. 
Dante,  although  distinctly  mediaeval  by  his  theology, 
his  appeals  to  the  authority  of  Virgil  and  Aristotle, 
and  by  his  political  views,  has  the  characteristics  of 
the  new  spiritual  energy.  He  lays  immense  stress  on 
individuality,  and  delineates  real  life  with  wonderful 
vividness.  These  traits  mark  him  as  belonging  to 
the  new  world  coming  in  rather  than  to  the  old 
world  gfoinof  out. 

From  the  point  of  view  of  history,  Dante's  most 
marked  achievement,  perhaps,  was  to  raise  the  Tus- 
can (or  more  strictly  speaking  the  Florentine)  idiom, 
from  among  many  competitors,  to  the  dignity  of  being 
the  Italian  language.  This  was  the  consequence  of 
writing  the  "  Divine  Comedy "  in  Tuscan,  instead 
of  in  Latin.  Dante's  Tuscan  verses  were  recited  in 
the  tavern  and  on  the  piazza,  and  were  greeted 
with  loud  applause  by  apprentices  and  artisans,  shop- 
men and  tavern-keepers.  He  excited  the  enthusiasm 
of  both  educated  and  ignorant.    At  that  time  the 


THE    INTELLECTUAL   DAWN  185 

spoken  dialects  were  very  numerous.  A  friend  re- 
monstrating with  Dante  for  writing-  in  an  Italian 
dialect  instead  of  in  Latin,  said  that  there  were  a 
thousand.  Dante  himself  in  his  treatise  "  On  the 
Vernacular  Speech  "  enumerates  Sicilian,  Calabrian, 
Apulian,  Roman,  Tuscan,  Genoese,  Sardinian,  Ro- 
magnol,  Lombard,  Venetian,  and  others.  These  dia- 
lects of  the  provinces  were  further  subdivided  among 
themselves.  In  Tuscany  the  people  of  Siena  spoke  one 
idiom,  those  of  Arezzo  another.  In  Lombardy  the 
citizens  of  Ferrara  spoke  in  one  way,  the  citizens  of 
Piacenza  in  another.  Even  in  one  city,  as  in  Bologna, 
the  dwellers  in  St.  Felix  Street  and  those  in  Greater 
Street  did  not  speak  alike.  Besides  the  difficulties 
of  many  dialects,  besides  the  immense  prestige  of 
Latin  as  the  language  jf  learning,  of  law,  of  the 
Church,  French  appeared  as  a  possible  literary  lan- 
guage for  Italy.  Authors  in  Florence,  Venice,  Siena, 
and  Pisa  wrote  books  in  French,"  because  the  French 
language  jroes  over  the  world,  and  is  more  delectable 
to  read  and  to  hear  than  any  other."  But  Dante 
made  the  Florentine  tongue  immortal,  and  not  only 
wrote  the  u  Divine  Comedy  "  in  Florentine,  but  also 
••  The  New  Life"  and  "  The  Banquet."  Prior  to  his 
time  the  divers  idioms  had  stood  on  an  equality  ; 
after  ln>  time  Tuscan  became  the  language  of  polite 
Speech  and  of  literature,  the  real  Italian  language, 
and  the  others  were  degraded  to  the  position  of  mere 
dialects.  Petrarch  and  Boccaccio,  both  Florentines, 
also  deserve  then-  share  of  praise.  Petrarch's  son- 
nets and  Boccaccio's  stories  firmly  established  the 
primacy  to  which  Dante  had  raised  the  Tuscan  idiom. 


186         A   SHORT   HISTORY  OF  ITALY 

The  revival  of  sculpture  also  began  before  the 
middle  of  the  thirteenth  century.    Here  the  great 
leader   is  Niccolo    Pisano    (1206-78?).    There    has 
been  a  dispute  as  to  his    birthplace.    Some  say  he 
came  from  Southern  Italy  and  learned  his  art  there. 
If  this  theory  is  true,  Frederick's  kingdom  has  the 
honour  of  having  revived  sculpture  as  well  as  litera- 
ture ;  but  it  is  more  likely  that  Niccolo  came  from 
some  village  in  Tuscany,  and  early  went  to  Pisa, 
where  he  got  his  designation  Pisano.    The  first  cer- 
tain record  of  his  work  is  an  inscription  on  the  pul- 
pit in  the  Baptistery  at  Pisa,  which  states  that  he 
completed  the  pulpit  in  1260.    Pisa  was  then  at  the 
height  of  her  glory,  in  the  happy  years  before  her 
fatal  conflict  with  Genoa ;  she  had  built  the  Cathe- 
dral, the  Leaning  Tower,  and  the  Baptistery,  and 
now  wished  to  beautify  them  within.    Niccolo's  pulpit 
shows  both  imitation  of  the  classic  and  observation 
of  nature.    He  had  before  him  bits  of  ancient  sar- 
cophagi, which  had  been  built  into  the  wall  of  the 
Cathedral :  his  Madonna  bears  traces  of  the  Phaedra 
of  the  sarcophagus,  one  of  his  three  Wise  Men  re- 
sembles a  young  Greek,  and  his  modelling  in  general 
has  a  touch  of  classic  freedom,  dignity,  and  repose. 
In  his  conception  of  the  scenes  Niccolo  adhered  to 
ecclesiastical  tradition,  just  as  Dante  did  to  ecclesias- 
tical theology,  but  in  his  figures,  in  the  drapery  and 
various  details,  his  faithfulness  to  reality  is  striking, 
at  least  when  compared  with  the    Byzantine  style 
theretofore  prevailing.    The  success  of   this  pulpit 
was  so  great  that  a  few  years  later  he  was  asked  to 
carve  another  for  the  cathedral  in  Siena.    An  envoy 


THE    INTELLECTUAL   DAWN  187 

came  on  purpose,  and  in  the  Baptistery  of  Pisa  a 
contract  was  drawn  up  in  which  it  was  agreed  that 
Niccolo  should  go  to  Siena  and  stay  till  the  work 
was  done,  taking  three  assistants,  and  also  his  young 
son  Giovanni,  at  half  pay,  if  he  wished.  This  con- 
tract was  made  in  1265,  the  year  of  Dante's  birth. 
Niccolo  also  worked  at  Bologna,  Perugia,  Pistoia, 
probably  at  Lucca  and  almost  certainly  in  many 
other  places.  This  was  the  period  of  the  free  devel- 
opment of  the  communes  after  the  death  of  Fred- 
erick II,  and  Niccolb's  popularity  is  proof  of  wide- 
spread prosperity  and  interest  in  art.  Niccolo's  son 
Giovanni  (1250-1328?)  inherited  his  father's  gen- 
ius; and  his  work,  especially  his  masterpiece,  a  pul- 
pit at  Pistoia,  shows  how  fast  art  wras  developing. 
Giovanni,  in  his  eagerness  to  express  the  animation 
and  passion  of  life,  neglected  the  classic  and  went 
directly  to  nature,  at  least  in  desire  if  not  in  exe- 
cution. This  passionate  interest  in  life  is  the  very 
quality  that  gives  Dante's  "  Inferno  "  its  intense  vivid- 
ness. These  two  Pisani  founded  the  great  Tuscan 
school  of  sculpture,  and  influenced  both  painting 
ami  architecture  as  well. 

Italian  architecture  at  this  time  does  not  show 
one  great  figure  like  Niccolo  Pisano,  nor  does  it 
show  a  definite  beginning  of  a  new  period.  On  the 
contrary,  throughout  the  Middle  Ages  building  held 
its  own  Burprisingly  well  in  comparison  with  the 
other  arts.    In  (he  days  of  Theodoric  the  Ostrogoth, 

it   carried  on    the    I>\ /.antine   tradition   at    Ravenna, 

and  for  centuries  the  churches  in  Rome  were  limit 

on  the  old  basilican  principle.    Over  a  hundred  years 


lss         .\    SHORT   HISTORY   OF  ITALY 

before  Dante  was  born,  and  before  Niccolo  carved 
his  pulpit,  the  Lombard  style  flourished  in  Lom- 
bardy,  Tuscan  Romanesque  in  Tuscany,  and  Nor- 
man Sicilian  in  Sicily.  Before  the  Empire  had  re- 
ceived its  coup  <le  grace  the  Gothic  style  came  down 
from  the  North,  and  its  struggle  with  the  Roman- 
esque seemed  to  typify  the  conflict  between  the 
German  Empire  and  the  Italian  people.  Neverthe- 
less, if  we  confine  ourselves  to  Tuscany,  as  perhaps 
is  fair  in  view  of  the  very  great  influence  of  Tus- 
cany on  all  the  arts,  there  is  one  man  who  stands 
out  conspicuous.  Arnolfo  di  Cambio  (1232-1300?) 
began  lite  as  one  of  Niccolo's  assistants  at  Pisa,  and 
did  so  well  that  he  was  included  by  name  in  the 
contract  for  the  pulpit  at  Siena.  In  Florence  he 
built  the  church  of  Santa  Croce  for  the  Franciscans, 
designed  the  Palazzo  Vecchio,  and  made  the  first 
plans  for  the  Duomo ;  and  so  left  a  deep  impress 
on  Florence  and  through  Florence  on  the  world. 

In  painting,  more  than  in  any  other  art  or  depart- 
ment of  life,  perhaps,  authority  had  reigned  supreme 
throughout  the  Middle  Ages.  The  decadent  Greek 
painters  of  Constantinople  had  made  a  series  of 
rules,  which  were  as  autocratic  as  the  edicts  of  the 
Emperors.  Every  Madonna  was  painted  in  one  atti- 
tude, with  her  eyes  opening  wide  in  the  same  way, 
arms,  legs,  and  body  in  the  same  constrained  posi- 
tion, with  the  same  wooden  child  in  her  wooden 
lap,  and  the  same  wooden  saints  about  her.  But 
gradually,  side  by  side  with  the  art  of  authority, 
another  style,  at  first  very  simple  and  primitive, 
developed.    The  older  style  dominated  mosaic  work, 


THE   INTELLECTUAL   DAWN  189 

and  as  mosaics  were  most  intimately  associated  with 
the  symbolic  representation  of  sacred  things,  it  was 
strongly  intrenched  behind  all  the  beliefs  and  pre- 
judices of  the  Middle  Ages.  Nevertheless,  the  re- 
volutionary spirit  in  Tuscany,  for  the  leaders  of 
the  revolution  which  threw  off  the  authority  of  the 
Middle  Ao-es  came  from  among  the  free  men  of 
Tuscany,  prevailed  in  painting  as  well  as  elsewhere. 
The  last  of  the  masters  who  employed  the  Byzantine 
manner  was  Cimabue  (1240-1302);  yet  Cimabue 
had  a  sense  of  the  coming  change,  and  showed  a 
desire  to  break  through  the  enveloping  shell  of 
Byzantine  authority  and  portray  the  grace  and 
beauty  of  living  human  beings.  However  mediaeval 
his  manner  seems  to  us,  his  contemporaries,  eager 
as  the  Athenians  for  new  thing's,  perceived  the 
novelty  in  it.  When  he  was  painting  a  Madonna 
for  the  Dominican  monks  in  Florence,  Charles  of 
Anjou,  fresh  from  his  triumph  over  Manfred,  visited 
his  >tudio  for  the  honour  of  a  first  view,  and  crowds 
pressed  about  hoping  to  get  a  glimpse  of  the  picture. 
When  the  picture  was  carried  through  the  streets  to 
its  destination  in  the  church  of  Santa  Maria  Novella, 
a  great  procession  followed,  as  if  it  were  a  hero 
returned  from  the  wars.  Poor  Cimabue,  however, 
Idom  mentioned  except  as  a  dull  background 
against  which  the  conquering  Giotto  stands  in  bril- 
liant relief. 

Giotto   (1267?— 1336)  is  the    master  revolutionist 

of  painting,  lb-  was  a  contemporary  of  Dante,  a 
IVw  jrean  younger,  born  .it  tie-  time  when  Niccolb 
and  Giovanni  irere  working  at  the  pulpit  in  Siena, 


190         A   SHORT   HISTORY  OF  ITALY 

and  Charles  of  Anjou  was  posing  as  an  admirer  of 
the  fine  arts  in  Cimabue's  studio.  He  painted  Dante 
in  a  fresco  on  the  wall  of  the  Bargello  (a  palace  in 
Florence),  at  least  so  tradition  says;  and  Dante  in 
the  "  Divine  Comedy  "  speaks  of  him  as  outstripping 
the  once  renowned  Cimabue.  Giotto  was  an  ugly 
little  man,  of  great  character  and  quick  wit.  Various 
stories  are  told  of  his  repartees.  Once,  when  he  was 
painting  for  the  King  of  Naples  and  working  with 
great  diligence,  the  king,  who  used  to  watch  him, 
said,  "  Giotto,  if  I  were  you,  I  should  not  work  so 
hard."  "I  shouldn't,  —  if  I  were  you,"  retorted 
Giotto.  He  studied  under  Giovanni  Pisano,  and 
learned  so  much  that  it  has  been  said  that  "  Giotto 
is  the  greatest  work  of  the  Pisani."  Giotto  was  also 
the  successor  to  Arnolfo  as  the  leading  architect 
in  Florence,  and  built  the  Campanile  of  the  Duomo, 
and,  being  likewise  a  sculptor,  modelled  some  of  the 
bas-reliefs  that  ornament  the  panels  of  the  base. 
His  great  art  was  painting,  and  especially  the  paint- 
ing of  figures.  Giotto  was  in  demand  to  paint  fres- 
coes on  the  walls  of  churches  and  chapels  at  Flor- 
ence, Arezzo,  Assisi,  Padua,  Ravenna,  Rome,  and 
Naples ;  and  other  painters  came  from  far  and  near 
to  study  under  him.  He  dominated  Italian  painting, 
and  his  school  was  the  only  school  for  a  hundred 
years.  After  the  world  had  adopted  Raphael's  fres- 
coes as  the  type  of  excellence  his  fame  was  dimmed 
for  a  time,  but  since  Mr.  Ruskin's  enthusiastic  ad- 
miration it  has  regained  its  ancient  lustre. 

These  instances  of   revolution  in  the  arts  show 
that  a   new   intellectual  life   had   begun,   that  the 


THE   INTELLECTUAL   DAWN  191 

Middle  Ages  had  really  ended.  In  fact,  the  passing 
away  of  the  Holy  Roman  Empire  and  of  the  Euro- 
pean suzerainty  of  the  Papacy  was  merely  an  epi- 
sode in  the  general  intellectual  revolution. 


CHAPTER   XX 

THE  DESPOTISMS  (1250-1350) 

Perhaps  the  quality  which  strikes  us  most  in  this 
dawn  of  our  Modern  World  is  its  suddenness;  Nic- 
colo  Pisano  gets  up,  as  it  were,  out  of  the  ground, 
Giotto  follows  Cimabue,  Dante  is  born  while  Guido 
Guinicelli  is  still  a  young  man.  We  are  amazed 
and  bewildered,  and  it  is  not  in  the  arts  alone  that 
the  change  is  so  startling.  The  political  structure 
shifts  with  equal  quickness,  and  while  we  are  trying 
to  connect  and  coordinate  this  outburst  of  art  with 
the  democratic  triumph  of  the  communes,  the  demo- 
cratic communes  disappear  under  our  eyes.  At  first 
as  we  look  we  are  a  little  puzzled,  for  the  outward 
form  of  the  commune  remains  unchanged  ;  the  po- 
desta  is  still  there,  the  Great  Council  and  the  inner 
council  are  still  there,  the  committees  and  the  sub- 
committees superintending  and  directing  the  affairs 
of  the  commonwealth  ;  but  further  observation  dis- 
closes a  lack  of  spontaneity.  The  motive  power 
does  not  seem  the  resultant  of  the  debate  and  argu- 
ment of  numerous  discordant  wills,  but  to  proceed 
from  some  one  definite  inner  source.  More  careful 
observation  shows  that  these  outward  committees 
are  but  registeringf  boards  that  record  an  inner 
will,  that  their  members  go  to  one  particular  palace 
to  have  their  minds  made  up,  at  first  privily,  but 


THE   DESPOTISMS  193 

soon  openly,  and  at  last  confessedly  and  ostenta- 
tiously. This  is  the  regular  course.  The  commune 
is,  as  it  were,  a  political  chrysalis  out  of  which  a 
full-blown  tyrant  bursts.  The  tyrants  were  men  of 
capacity,  who  gathered  the  various  functions  of  the 
ETOvernment  into  their  own  hands,  and  bv  a  course 
of  adroitness  and  fraud,  or  by  a  coup  d'etat,  reduced 
the  city  to  obedience,  and  then,  after  having  exer- 
cised sovereign  rights  during  their  lives,  bequeathed 
the  principality  to  their  heirs.  The  reason  of  their 
success  is  plain.  It  was  impossible  for  trade  to  flour- 
ish, for  property  to  collect  its  income,  for  luxury 
to  enjoy  itself,  under  the  political  confusion  that 
attended  the  democratic  endeavours  for  self-gov- 
ernment. The  uncertainty  in  government,  law,  and 
trade,  was  too  high  a  price  to  pay  for  liberty.  Men 
of  property,  men  of  business,  men  of  pleasure,  pre- 
ferred the  comparative  stability  of  a  tyranny. 

Before  we  look  at  this  process  in  individual  states 
we  must  eliminate  the  exceptions.  The  kingdom 
of  Sicily  under  the  House  of  Aragon,  and  that  of 
Naples  under  the  House  of  Anjou,  had  become,  in 
great  measure,  absolute  monarchies,  for  the  gifted 
Emperor  Frederick,  who  was  no  lover  of  democracy, 
had  crushed  <>r  circumvented  the  communal  spirit 
in  his  kingdom.  The  suppression  of  popular  liber- 
ties did  ii< >t  resull  in  the  strict  enforcemenl  of  order 
in  either  bdngdorA,  particularly  not  in  Sicily  where 
feudal  anarchy  was  rampant ;  but  we  must  leave 
those  Southerners  to  their  oranges  and  lemons,  to 

their  flowers  and  azure  skies,  to  their   churches  and 

cloisters,  where  Romanesque,  Byzantine,  and  Arab 


194        A   SHORT   HISTORY  OF  ITALY 

influences  met  and  combined  in  arch  and  dome  and 
sculptured  trimming,  and  go  northward  to  find  the 
main  historical  current  of  the  century. 

Florence,  too,  we  must  except  from  the  tyrannic 
system,  for  a  democratic  government  prevailed  there 
for  many  years  to  come,  and  also  Rome,  where  the 
Papacy  prevented  Colonna  and  Orsini  from  estab- 
lishing a  despotism. 

Verona  shall  serve  as  the  paradigm  for  the  des- 
potic form  of  government.  In  this  ancient  city  on  the 
banks  of  the  Adige,  where  the  amphitheatre  of  Au- 
gustus still  stood  though  the  churches  built  by  Theo- 
doric  the  Ostrogoth  had  crumbled  away,  the  spirit 
of  material  and  intellectual  activity  had  been  busily 
at  work.  The  stately  church  of  San  Zeno  (eleventh 
century),  most  beautiful  of  Romanesque  churches, 
coloured  with  the  hues  of  early  dawn  and  rich  with 
bronze  doors  and  sculptured  front,  stood  proudly 
apart  outside  the  walls  ;  but  within,  the  cathedral 
had  been  begun,  and  the  great  Ghibelline  tower  al- 
ready lifted  its  crenellated  top  high  over  the  market- 
place. Rushing  through  the  city  the  headlong  Adige 
turned  innumerable  mill-wheels,  and  Veronese  girls 
washed  the  clothes  of  the  Capulets  and  Montagues 
in  its  waters.  Altogether  the  city  was  a  very  de- 
sirable signory.  This  fact  had  been  discovered  in 
Frederick's  time,  and  Ezzelino  da  Romano,  one  of 
the  Ghibelline  nobles  of  the  North,  had  made  good 
his  power  there  and  distinguished  himself  by  his 
cruelty,  for  which  he  is  still  remembered.  On  his 
most  satisfactory  death,  not  long  after  Frederick's, 
the  Scaligers  succeeded  to  the  dominion  of  the  city 


THE   DESPOTISMS  195 

(1259).  These  Scaligers  were  of  the  best  type  of 
tyrant,  especially  Can  Grande  (1311-1329),  the  fifth 
in  possession  of  the  signory,  who  presents  the  type 
in  its  noblest  and  mos.t  attractive  form.  Neverthe- 
less, despite  his  brilliance,  his  success  and  magnifi- 
cence, his  chief  renown  is  as  host  to  the  exiled 
Dante,  who  in  gratitude  for  "  my  first  refuge  and 
first  hostelry  "  dedicated  the  "  Paradiso  "  to  him, 
and  celebrated  his  carelessness  of  hardship  and  of 
gold,  and  his  doughty  deeds  from  which  even  ene- 
mies could  not  withhold  their  praise. 

Can  Grande,  like  other  despots,  had  two  objects, 
—  to  make  his  signory  secure,  and  to  enlarge  it. 
As  he  was  secure  of  Verona,  he  cast  his  covetous 
glances  abroad  and  fixed  them  on  Vicenza,  a  little 
town  some  thirty  miles  to  the  northeast.  Vicenza 
was,  so  to  speak,  no  longer  in  the  market,  as  she 
had  been  snapped  up  by  her  neighbour,  Padua, 
which  had  had  the  advantage  of  being  less  than 
twenty  miles  away.  But  Can  Grande  played  his 
cards  well,  and  by  help  of  the  Emperor  Henry  VII, 
who  appointed  him  Imperial  vicar,  got  possession 
of  the  prize.  Padua,  a  rich  and  prosperous  Guelf 
city,  with  Bnbject  towns  round  about,  and  a  famous 
university  within,  refused  to  acquiesce  in  a  surrender 
of  Vicenza  to  a  Ghibelline  lord.  A  long  war  en- 
sued.  The  fair  fields  in  the  forty  miles  between  Ve- 
rona and  Padua  were  laid  waste,  the  poor  peasants 
were  dr;i""ed  to  one  citv  or  the  Other  and  held  for 
ransom,  and    the    (Juell's    in    Verona   and   the   Ghib- 

ellinee  in  Padua  were  persecuted,  imprisoned,  and 
tortured.    Atla>t  Padua,  her  signory  over,  her  neigh- 


19G         A    SHORT   HISTORY  OF  ITALY 

hours  lost,  her  population  fallen  away,  her  citizens 
fighting  among  themselves,  her  nohles  destroying 
one  another  in  the  hope  of  becoming  lords  of  the  city, 
gave  way  and  surrendered  to  Can  Grande.  Other 
cities  shared  Padua's  fate,  and  Can  Grande,  by  virtue 
of  his  conquests  as  well  as  of  his  character,  became 
one  of  the  chief  powers  in  Italy.  Can  Grande  was 
brave  even  to  recklessness,  covetous  of  dominion, 
Bteadfast  in  his  political  aims,  true  to  his  promises, 
generous  to  his  enemies.  On  his  death  he  bequeathed 
his  signory  to  his  nephew  ;  and  his  body  was  buried 
in  the  churchyard  of  a  little  Gothic  chapel,  where 
stone  effigies  of  armoured  Scaligers  on  caparisoned 
steeds  surmount  Gothic  tombs,  and  the  pride  of  life 
and  conquest  strives  to  overcrow  death. 

The  story  of  the  Scaligers  must  be  continued  some- 
what further,  for  they  exhibit  the  phenomenon,  so 
frequent  in  Northern  Italy  at  this  time,  of  a  des- 
potism that  begins  in  vigour,  continues  in  energy  and 
success,  and  then  dies  down  under  degenerate  heirs 
to  go  out  at  last  like  a  candle.  Can  Grande's  nephew, 
Mastino  (1329-51),  —  the  family  had  a  fondness 
for  canine  appellations,  Great  Dog  and  Mastiff,  —  be- 
gan his  career  with  ability  and  courage ;  he  con- 
quered Brescia  to  the  west,  halfway  to  Milan,  and 
Parma,  which  lies  beyond  Mantua.  These  particular 
acts  of  aggression  helped  his  ruin,  for  Milan  and 
Mantua  took  alarm  and  joined  a  league  against  him. 
But  that  was  not  till  later.  In  the  days  of  his  pros- 
perity Mastino  was  very  magnificent.  Soldiers,  horse 
and  foot,  attended  him  ;  his  palace  was  thronged  with 
lords,  gentlemen,  and  buffoons;  his  stables  were  full 


THE   DESPOTISMS  197 

of  chargers  and  palfreys,  his  bird-sheds  of  falcons. 
At  his  court  there  were  innumerable  fashionable 
devices  for  driving  care  away,  dancing,  singing,  joust- 
ing ;  everything  was  luxurious ;  men  and  furniture 
were  decked  with  embroidery,  cloth  of  gold,  cloth 
from  France,  and  cloth  from  Tartary.  When  Mastino 
rode  forth  all  Verona  rushed  to  the  windows  ;  when 
he  was  angry  all  Verona  trembled.  He  was  a  dark- 
skinned,  bearded  man,  with  heavy  features  and  a 
great  belly ;  in  later  life  he  ate  grossly,  and  sank  into 
dissipation.  Seldom  on  a  Friday  or  Saturday,  or 
even  in  Lent,  would  he  refrain  from  meat ;  and  he 
did  not  care  a  rap  for  excommunication.  He  became 
arrogant  and  vainglorious.  His  dissipation  and  lack 
of  piety,  however,  were  less  direct  causes  of  his  fall 
than  his  ambition;  he  coveted,  rumour  said,  a  king- 
dom of  Lombardy  or  even  of  all  Italy.  But  at  last  he 
overreached  himself  in  dealing  with  the  Florentines. 
They  wished  to  get  possession  of  Lucca,  and  he 
undertook  to  buy  it  for  them,  —  it  was  a  fourteenth- 
century  custom  to  sell  a  city,  —  but  when  he  got 
possession  of  Lucca  he  kept  it  for  himself.  The 
Florentines  declared  war,  and  induced  all  his  rival 
despots,  the  Visconti  of  Milan,  the  Gonzaga  of  Man- 
tua, the  Kstensi  of  Ferrara,  to  join  a  league  against 
him.  Venice  also  joined,  being  indignant  with  the 
Scaligers  for  levying  tolls  upon  merchandise  th.it 
went  up  the  Po,  and  for  interference  with  the  Ve- 
iM-tiin  monopoly  of  salt.  The  league  was  victorious 
and  forced  the  Scaligers  to  hard  terms.    Venice  took 

tin-  towns  near  her,  thus  acquiring  her  first   territory 

on  tin-  Italian  mainland;  the  great  Paduan  family, 


I'.'*         A   SHORT   HISTORY  OF  ITALY 

the  Carrara,  took  back  Padua  ;  the  Visconti  of  Milan 
took  Brescia  (1338).  The  Scaligers  were  shorn  of 
their  power,  and  from  this  time  on  the  house  dwin- 
dled ;  assassinations  of  brother  by  brother  darkened 
its  close,  and  at  the  end  of  the  century  it  lost  Ve- 
rona and  all. 

What  the  Scaligers  did  at  Verona  other  great  fam- 
es o 

ilies  were  doing  elsewhere.  The  Gonzacra  established 
themselves  in  Mantua,  the  Estensi  in  Ferrara,  the  Ben- 
tivogli  in  Bologna,  the  da  Polenta  in  Ravenna,  the 
Malatesta  in  Rimini,  the  Montefeltri  in  Urbino,  the 
Baglioni  in  Perugia,  and  greatest  of  all  the  Vis- 
conti in  Milan.  The  city  of  Milan  has  so  important 
a  place  in  the  history  of  Italy,  that  we  must  pause 
over  the  Visconti.  This  family  succeeded  in  dis- 
possessing its  rivals  and  in  becoming  masters  of  the 
city  in  1295,  about  the  time  that  the  oligarchy 
was  clinching  its  hold  on  Venice,  and  the  democracy 
becoming  all  powerful  in  Florence.  In  fact,  one  may 
accept  this  date  as  the  point  at  which  Florence,  Ven- 
ice, and  Milan  start  on  their  upward  careers  towards 
becoming  three  of  the  six  chief  divisions  of  Italy. 
Convenience  has  its  rights,  and  it  is  eminently  con- 
venient to  start  the  Renaissance,  politically  as  well 
as  intellectually,  in  this  eager,  passionate  last  quarter 
of  the  thirteenth  century. 

The  Visconti,  however,  were  not  firm  in  their  seats 
till  the  gallant  Henry  VII,  Dante's  hope,  came  down 
into  Italy  to  revive  the  Empire.  We  have  seen  that 
Henry  did  not  revive  the  Empire,  but  he  did 
strengthen  Can  Grande,  his  loyal  lieutenant  in  Ve- 
rona, and  also  the  Visconti,  his  loyal  friends  in  Milan. 


THE   DESPOTISMS  199 

It  is  pathetic,  even  now,  to  think  of  that  high-aspir- 
ing Henry,  with  his  noble,  old-fashioned  ideas  con- 
cerning the  Roman  Empire  and  universal  brother- 
hood under  the  shelter  of  the  Roman  eagle,  and  of  the 
great  Dante  fastening  all  his  hopes  on  those  same  old- 
fashioned  ideas,  while  the  crafty  lords  of  Milan  and 
Verona,  laughing  in  their  sleeves,  professed  the  most 
devout  Imperial  creed  and  feathered  their  own  nests. 
On  the  Emperor's  death  (1313)  the  Visconti  were 
firmly  seated.  The  signory  descended  from  one  gen- 
eration to  the  next.  Their  sway  was  extended  over  the 
cities  round  about,  until  it  included  most  of  Lom- 
bard}'. Ambition,  growing  by  what  it  fed  on,  aimed 
at  the  cities  of  Pisa,  Bologna,  and  Genoa.  Such  plans 
aroused  both  jealousy  and  fear.  The  ambition  of  the 
Visconti  to  take  Pisa  alarmed  Florence,  who  had 
marked  Pisa  as  her  own ;  that  to  take  Bologna  stirred 
the  absentee  Popes,  who  went  through  the  old  forms 
of  excommunication,  interdict,  and  crusade ;  but 
Genoa,  crippled  by  her  wars  with  Venice,  rent  asun- 
der by  internal  factions,  wearily  gave  herself  to  Milan, 
in  the  vain  hope  of  winning  peace  and  security.  In 
spite  of  checks  here  and  there,  the  state  of  Milan 
became  more  and  more  powerful,  and  the  signory  of 
the  \  ixonti  by  far  the  greatest  of  the  tvrannies  in 
Italy. 

There  wen-,  of  course,  many  men  who  attempted 
to  become  despots  and  failed  ;  and  others  who  suc- 
ceeded for  their  lifetimes,  bui  were  not  able  to  make 
their  Bignories  bo  Btroog  as  to  become  family  pos- 
Bessions  to  be  enjoyed  l»\  their  heirs  after  them.    Of 

the  latter  kind    one    must    he    mentioned.     In    Lucca 


200         A   SHORT   HISTORY  OF  ITALY 

Castruccio  Castracane  (died  1328),  a  very  brilliant 
politician  and  soldier,  became  so  powerful  that  he 
reduced  to  subjection  much  of  the  country  round 
and  nearly  succeeded  in  conquering  Florence,  with 
whom  he  was  long  at  war.  Like  other  successful  ty- 
rants he  called  himself  a  Ghibelline,  and  drew  what 
advantage  he  could  from  his  profession  of  faith,  but 
really  only  aimed  to  acquire  a  principality  for  him- 
self. He  died  in  the  prime  of  life  ( to  the  great  relief 
of  the  Florentines),  and  left  so  brilliant  a  reputation 
for  the  qualities  which  achieve  success  by  fair  means 
or  foul,  that  two  centuries  later  Machiavelli  held  him 
up  as  an  example  for  princes  to  follow. 


CHAPTER   XXI 

THE  CLASSICAL   REVIVAL   (1350) 

We  are  now  well  started  on  the  fourteenth  century, 
and  it  will  be  well  to  glance  at  the  chief  Italian 
states  in  order  to  get  our  bearing's. 

Sicily  was  in  a  state  of  hopeless  despondency. 
The  island  was  nominally  subject  to  the  House  of 
Aragon,  but  its  kings  were  not  men  of  sufficient 
character  to  impose  their  authority,  and  the  unfor- 
tunate kingdom  was  beginning  to  go  down  hill. 
The  Kingdom  of  Naples  was,  for  the  time  being, 
much  better  off,  for  its  king,  Robert,  grandson 
of  Charles  of  Anjou,  was  a  man  of  unusual  gifts 
and  capacity,  but  he  was  succeeded  by  a  foolish, 
frivolous,  light-minded,  light-mannered  granddaugh- 
ter, Joan  (1343-81),  who  brought  forty  years  of 
trouble  to  her  kingdom,  and  under  her  Naples 
started  rolling  down  that  same  incline  on  which 
Sicily  was  rolling  somewhat  ahead  of  her.  The  fail- 
ure of  Sicily  and  Naples  to  take  part  in  the  great 
career  in  matters  intellectual  now  opening  before 
Northern  [taly  is  partly  due  to  the  race  that  popu- 
lated them,  a  miscellaneous  mixture  <>t'  Moods  (at 
least  it  is  customary  to  explain  unknown  causes  of 
success  and  failure  by  saying  good  blood  and  bail 
blood),  and  partly  to  the  autocratic  will  of  the  bril- 
liant   Frederick   II,  who  crushed  out   independence 


202         A   SHORT   HISTORY  OF   ITALY 

in  his  kingdom,  and  so  deprived  it  of  that  communal 
life  which  is  the  only  obvious  factor,  except  "good 
blood,"  in  the  intellectual  success  of  Northern  Italy. 

The  whole  pontifical  state,  from  the  fortresses  of 
the  Colonna  on  the  Tiber  to  the  strongholds  of  the 
Malatesta  in  Rimini,  was  in  the  vortex  of  confusion. 

Florence  was  well  off,  for  though  the  foreigners 
whom  she  had  invited  to  be  protectors  against  Cas- 
truccio  Castracane  and  others  were  rather  detrimen- 
tal than  useful,  and  though  there  were  signs  of  a 

©  © 

new  struggle  between  the  Gfrandi  and  the  Burghers, 

&©  © 

her  commerce  prospered,  her  dominion  spread  over 
the  towns  round  about,  and  her  luxury  grew  so  fast 
that  the  troubled  elders  passed  all  sorts  of  sump- 
tuary laws  to  prescribe  what  should  be  worn  and 
what  not,  by  both  fashionable  and  simple. 

In  the  northwest,  now  Piedmont,  there  were,  be- 
sides the  Counts  of  Savoy,  several  struggling  claim- 
ants who  severally  asserted  titles  to  their  own  and 
other  strips  of  territory.  In  the  northeast,  Venice, 
which  had  acquired  a  footing  on  the  mainland  des- 
tined to  grow  into  the  province  of  Venetia,  was 
prosperous.  And  between  Piedmont  and  Venice  the 
successful  Visconti  of  Milan,  soon  to  receive  the 
keys  of  Genoa,  were  likewise  well  satisfied.  The 
political  situation  may  now  be  dismissed,  and  we 
may  turn  to  the  distinguishing  mark  of  the  century, 
the  classical  revival. 

The  distinction  which  Italy  enjoys  as  the  most 
famous  country  in  Europe  is  due  to  three  ages,  — 
first,  the  ancient  epoch  of  Augustus  CaBsar  and 
Trajan,  when  the  Roman  Empire  imposed  the  "pax 


THE   CLASSICAL   REVIVAL  203 

romana  on  a  grateful  world  ;  second,  the  mediaeval 
epoch  of  Hildebrand  and  Innocent  III,  when  the 
Papacy,  following*  its  great  prototype  with  unequal 
steps,  imposed  its  pax  romana  on  both  troubled, 
souls  and  angry  hands ;  and  third,  the  epoch  of  the 
Renaissance,  when  Italy  took  the  lead  in  the  intel- 
lectual development  of  modern  Europe.  It  would  be 
as  absurd  to  subordinate  intellectual  life  to  politics 
in  the  period  of  the  Renaissance  as  it  would  be  to 
subordinate  the  religion  of  the  era  of  Hildebrand 
to  its  art,  or  the  politics  of  the  Augustan  age  to  its 
religion.  The  highest  life  of  Italy,  the  life  which 
gives  importance  to  the  history  of  this  coming  period, 
is  its  intellectual  life,  and,  though  we  must  not  for- 
get politics  entirely,  we  should  lay  the  chief  stress  on 
intellectual  rather  than  on  political  matters. 

Since  the  date  of  the  Pisan  pulpit,  prosperity  had 
increased  fast,  and  curiosity,  the  desire  to  investi- 
gate, the  wish  to  know,  had  grown  lustily.  There 
were  still  the  same  two  stores  of  knowledge,  —  nature 
and  the  classics,  —  but  the  first,  for  many  reasons, 
seemed  vague,  intangible,  when  compared  to  the 
second,  in  which  the  demi-gods  (so  they  appeared 
then)  of  the  ancient  world  had  garnered  the  rich 
harvest  of  their  thoughts.  The  classical  heritage, 
the  record  of  a  higher  civilization,  seemed  a  lay 
Bible,  the  revelation  of  truth,  the  means  of  salva- 
tion; and  the  young  generation  emerging  in  the 
dawn  of  intellectual  light  burned  thirstily  to  this 
newly  found  inheritance.  The  leader  of  this  pil- 
grimage to  the  land  flowing  with  intellectual  milk 

and  honey  was  Francis  Petrarch  (  1304  -71  I. 


204        A   SHORT   HISTORY  OF   ITALY 

Petrarch  was  a  Florentine,  but  he  lived  in  exile. 
His  father  had  been  banished  at  the  same  time  with 
Dante,  and  after  a  few  wandering  years  had  settled 
at  Avignon.  Petrarch  studied  law  at  the  University 
of  Bologna  and  became  a  confirmed  Ghibelline. 
This  item  of  biography  is  important,  because  it  re- 
minds us  that  Petrarch's  passion  for  the  classic 
world,  though  it  had  its  roots  in  the  traditional 
admiration  for  Rome,  received  strength  and  justifi- 
cation not  only  from  Latin  literature,  but  also  from 
the  Civil  law.  Men  who  grasped  the  complexity 
and  richness  of  the  Roman  law  necessarily  admired 
Roman  civilization,  and  inferred  that  all  other  mani- 
festations of  that  civilization  must  be  as  admir- 
able as  the  law,  and  perhaps  less  dry.  Petrarch 
found  the  law  dry,  but  he  left  Bologna  with  a  pas- 
sion for  the  classic  world  ;  and  when  he  went  back 
to  Avignon  he  met  all  the  most  cultivated  men  of 
Europe.  Learning  still  attended  the  papal  court, 
and  Avignon  served  to  make  this  charming  young 
scholar  of  genius  known  to  the  world.  He  flung 
up  the  law  and  devoted  himself  to  literature. 
Cicero  was  his  hero.  Petrarch  was  the  first  of  the 
humanists,  the  herald  of  the  Renaissance,  and,  if  we 
look  farther  forward  still,  the  harbinger  of  the 
Reformation.  Petrarch's  importance  was  very  great 
because  he  was  not  too  far  ahead  of  his  generation. 
He  shouted  aloud  the  glory  of  Rome,  of  Roman 
literature  and  Roman  thought,  and  the  echo  re- 
sounded throughout  Europe.  In  the  year  1341, 
in  Rome,  upon  the  Capitoline  Hill,  Petrarch  re- 
ceived the  crown  of  laurel,  as  scholar  and  poet,  from 


THE   CLASSICAL   KEVIVAL  205 

the  Senate  and  People  of  Rome.  The  King  of  Naples 
was  his  sponsor,  and  the  tyrants  of  the  North  ap- 
plauded. This  ceremony  was  the  conspicuous  re- 
cognition that  a  new  period  was  opening  before 
Italy ;  and  Petrarch's  laurel  crown  may  be  put  be- 
side the  Imperial  wreath  of  Augustus  and  the  tiara 
of  Hildebrand,  as  the  starting-point  of  Italy's  third 
great  period  of  triumph. 

After  his  coronation,  Petrarch  went  about  Italy 
spreading  the  seeds  of  the  new  enthusiasm.  He 
lived  or  made  visits  at  Parma,  Bologna,  Verona, 
Florence,  Arezzo,  Naples,  Rome,  Milan,  Padua,  and 
Venice.  He  became  tremendously  fashionable.  The 
Pope  invited  him  to  be  papal  secretary,  the  King 
of  France  extended  the  hospitality  of  Paris  to  him, 
the  Emperor  bade  him  to  Prague,  the  Visconti 
wanted  him  at  Milan,  the  Scaligers  at  Verona,  the 
Cararresi  at  Padua,  the  lord  high  Seneschal  at 
Naples ;  the  Florentines  asked  him  to  accept  a  chair 
in  their  new  university,  the  Venetians  offered  him 
a  house.  All  this  honour  ostensibly  shown  to  Pe- 
trarch was  really  the  salutation  to  the  new  dawn. 

The  strength  of  this  classic  revival,  though  most 
effective  in  literature  and  the  arts,  is  perhaps  still 
more  noticeable  in  the  political  career  of  another 
young  man  of  genius  who  had  as  passionate  a  love 
of  classic  Rome  as  Petrarch  himself.  Cola  di  Rienzo 
(1314-54)  was  an  imaginative,  poetical  dreamer, 
who  fed  his  youth  on  Livy,  Cicero,  Seneca,  and  de- 
lighted to  muse  on  the  glories  of  Julius  Cesar  and 
to  study  the  antique  monuments  of  Rome.  His  pub- 
lic career  began  as  envoy  on  one  of  the  unsuccessful 


206         A   SHORT   HISTORY  OF   ITALY 

embassies  which  used  to  entreat  the  Popes  to  return 
to  the  deserted  city.  Cola  was  handsome,  eloquent,  ar- 
dent, a  sort  of  Don  Quixote,  and  roused  the  Roman 
populace  to  share  his  dreams  and  to  believe  in  the 
possible  restoration  of  the  Senate  and  People  of  Rome 
to  their  ancient  grandeur.  He  led  the  people  against 
the  nobility,  forced  the  riotous  barons  to  submit  to 
his  rule  as  tribune  of  the  people,  and  established  a 
government  of  law  in  the  city ;  but  his  ambition  flew 
far  beyond  the  city  walls.  He  dreamed  of  the  con- 
federation of  all  Italy  under  the  lead  of  Rome.  He 
would  have  smiled  at  limiting  imitation  of  the  great 
days  of  old  to  the  arts  or  to  literature ;  he  intended 
to  restore  the  Roman  Republic  as  it  had  been  in  its 
high  and  palmy  days.  His  wild  aspirations  throw  a 
backward  light  over  the  history  of  the  city  of  Rome 
throughout  the  Middle  Ages,  and  over  that  repub- 
licanism which  played  so  important  a  part  in  the 
struggle  between  Empire  and  Papacy,  and  light  up 
the  old  theories  under  which  the  Roman  people 
claimed  the  right  to  elect  both  Emperor  and  Pope ; 
just  as  Boniface's  bulls  portray  the  outworn  papal 
theories,  and  Dante's  "  De  Monarchia  "  the  dead 
Imperial  beliefs. 

Cola's  first  step  was  to  invite  all  the  princes  and 
communes  of  Italy  to  attend  a  general  meeting  in 
Rome ;  and  as  all  Italy  had  responded  to  Petrarch's 
appeal  in  behalf  of  the  classic  past,  so  did  she,  for 
the  moment,  respond  to  Cola's  appeal.  Milan,  Genoa, 
Lucca,  Florence,  Siena,  and  the  smaller  cities  nearer 
by,  answered  with  apparent  sympathy.  Petrarch  was 
mad  with  delight,  and  hailed  Cola  as  Camillus,  Brutus, 


THE   CLASSICAL   REVIVAL  207 

Romulus.  For  the  moment,  such  was  the  strength  of 
classical  illusion,  the  dream  seemed  to  be  real.  Cola 
wrote  to  the  Florentines  (September,  1347),  "  We 
have  made  all  citizens  of  the  states  of  Holy  Italy- 
Roman  citizens,  and  we  admit  them  to  the  right  of 
election.  The  affairs  of  Empire  have  naturally  de- 
volved upon  the  Holy  Roman  People.  We  desire  to 
renew  and  strengthen  the  old  union  with  all  the 
principalities  and  states  of  Holy  Italy,  and  to  deliver 
Holy  Italy  itself  from  its  condition  of  abject  sub- 
jection and  to  restore  it  to  its  old  state  and  to  its 
ancient  glory.  We  mean  to  exalt  to  the  position  of 
Emperor  some  Italian  whom  zeal  for  the  union  of 
his  race  shall  stir  to  high  efforts  for  Italy."1 

Cola's  great  idea  was  destined  to  wait  five  hundred 
years  for  fulfilment.  The  time  was  not  ripe,  and  he 
himself  not  a  suitable  instrument.  His  career  was 
brief.  He  became  not  only  vainglorious  but  also  very 
cruel.  He  grew  fat,  and  lost  the  charm  of  youth  and 
novelty.  The  nobles  and  the  upper  classes  of  Rome 
hated  him ;  and  when,  in  need  of  money,  he  in- 
creased the  taxes,  the  Roman  populace  turned  upon 
him,  stormed  the  Capitol,  captured  him  as  he  tried 
to  slink  away  in  disguise,  and  murdered  him  on  the 
Bteps  leading  down  from  the  palace.  His  head  was 
rut  off,  bis  body  was  dragged  through  the  streets  and 
bnrnedj  and  the  ashes  scattered  to  the  winds. 

The  mad  dream  had  been,  in  its  nature,  evanes- 
cent. The  classical  heritage  was  too  purely  intellec- 
tual, too    remote    from  existing   needs,  to  he  ahle    to 

1  Hume  in  the  MiddL   Ages,  Gngonmni,  rol.  vi,  p.  295,  note  1 

(translated). 


208         A  SHORT   HISTORY   OF  ITALY 

shape  politics.  But  that  fourteen  hundred  years  after 
the  death  of  Julius  Caesar,  Cola  should  have  been  able 
to  establish  himself  as  Roman  tribune  on  the  Capi- 
toline  Hill,  and  to  act  as  if  the  Republic  of  the  days 
of  the  Gracchi  had  been  but  temporarily  superseded, 
si io\vs  the  immense  influence  of  Rome  over  the  me- 
diaval  imagination,  and  helps  us  to  understand  the 
autocratic  power  of  the  classical  heritage  in  shaping 
and  directing  the  intellectual  revolution  in  Italy. 


CHAPTER   XXII 

THE  ILLS  OF  THE  FOURTEENTH  CENTURY 

The  fourteenth  century  undoubtedly  felt  itself 
emancipated  from  the  limitations  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  and  with  justice,  so  far  as  the  classical  revival 
was  concerned,  but  it  did  little  or  nothing  to  free 
itself  from  ills  that  were  distinctly  of  a  mediaeval 
character,  —  plague,  lawlessness,  and  tyranny.  In 
that  respect,  the  transition  from  the  Middle  Ages  to 
the  Modern  World  was  slow  and  made  a  striking 
contrast  with  the  rapid  evolution  of  art. 

The  chief  of  these  ills  was  the  plague.  Only  in 
remote  places  of  the  East,  if  at  all,  does  the  scourge 
of  disease  now  fall  as  it  then  did  in  the  most  civi- 
lized cities  of  the  world,  and  it  was  from  the  East 
that  these  plagues  came,  brought  by  sailors.  One 
blasted  Tuscany  in  1340,  one  Lombardy  in  13G1 ; 
but  the  wmst  was  the  awful  Black  Death  of  1348, 
which  wrought  havoc  in  various  parts  of  Italy  and 
then  swept  northward  across  the  Alps  On  its  de- 
structive path.     It  was  this   plague  which    Boccaccio 

describes  in  the  beginning  of  the  "Decameron."   It 

spread  like  fire  among  dry  wood  which  lias  been 
Sprinkled  with  oil.  At  first  swellings  appeared  the 
size  of  an  egg  or  an  apple,  then  black  and  hard 
Spots;     on    the    third    day    came    death.       Kven    ani- 

mals  caught    the  disease.    Boccaccio  saw  two  pigs 


210         A   SHORT  HISTORY  OF   ITALY 

which  had  chewed  the  garment  of  a  plague-stricken 
man  die  in  convulsions.  Medicine  was  useless.  Some 
thought  the  wisest  course  was  to  live  on  the  daintiest 
food  and  drink,  and  never  speak  of  the  plague ; 
others  believed  in  carousing  and  jollity,  and  went 
about  from  tavern  to  tavern  seeking  diversion,  but 
always  keeping  sober  enough  to  avoid  the  sick.  Pri- 
vate houses  were  deserted  and  lay  open  to  anybody. 
Loyalty  disappeared.  All  who  could  fled  into  the 
country.  Thousands  fell  sick  daily.  In  place  of  de- 
cent burial,  dead  bodies  were  tossed  huggermugger 
into  trenches.  Between  March  and  July,  Boccaccio 
says,  more  than  100,000  people  died  within  the  walls 
of  Florence. 

Florence  was  not  singular.  In  Siena  80,000 
people,  three  quarters  of  the  population,  died  ;  in 
Genoa,  40,000  ;  in  Pisa,  seven  out  of  ten,  and  so 
on  in  Venice,  Rome,  Naples,  and  Sicily.  These  fig- 
ures seem  incredible  ;  but  Petrarch  says  :  "  Posterity 
will  not  believe  that  there  ever  was  a  period  in 
which  the  world  remained  almost  entirely  depopu- 
lated, houses  empty  of  families,  cities  of  inhabitants, 
the  country  of  peasants.  How  will  the  future  be- 
lieve it,  when  we  ourselves  can  hardly  credit  our 
eyes  ?  We  go  outdoors,  walk  through  street  after 
street,  and  find  them  full  of  dead  and  dying ;  when 
we  get  home  again  we  find  no  live  thing  within  the 
house,  all  having  perished  within  the  brief  interval 
of  absence.  Happy  posterity,  to  whom  such  calami- 
ties will  seem  imasrininers  and  dreams."  Poor  Pe- 
trarch  !  The  lovely  Laura,  of  whom  he  wrote  so 
many  perfect  sonnets,  died  of  the   Black  Death  in 


ILLS  OF  THE   FOURTEENTH  CENTURY     211 

Avignon.  Giovanni  Villain,  the  historian,  died  in 
Florence.  This  terrible  calamity  throws  into  high 
relief  the  great  classical  impulse,  to  which  the  last 
chapter  was  devoted.  In  earlier  times  men  would 
have  turned  to  religion  and  the  Church  ;  but  now 
Petrarch,  a  most  devout  Christian,  and  his  disciples 
continued  to  worship  Cicero  and  the  heroes  of  the 
Augustan  age,  and  to  talk  of  Caesar  and  Pompey, 
Scylla  and  Charybdis,  as  the  most  important  and 
interesting  of  thino-s. 

Another  great  evil  which  rivalled  the  plague  as 
a  curse,  was  the  host  of  mercenary  soldiers  who 
swarmed  over  Italy  like  locusts.  In  the  days  of 
Barbarossa,  battles  like  that  of  Legnano  had  been 
fought  between  the  train-bands  of  the  communes 
on  one  side  and  the  feudal  chivalry  and  men-at- 
arms  on  the  other.  But  since  then  a  great  change 
had  come  over  the  methods  of  raising1  soldiers.  Un- 
der  the  feudal  system  the  term  of  service  in  the  field 
for  the  liegemen  of  the  Emperor  had  been  forty 
days ;  but  that  time  was  too  short  for  an  effective 
campaign.  When  the  Emperor  wished  to  cross 
tin  Alps  and  go  to  Rome  in  order  to  receive  the 
Imperial  crown,  he  was  obliged  to  hire  soldiers  ; 
and,  as  years  went  on  and  these  Imperial  descents 
becalm-  mere  adventurous  expeditions,  the  character 
of  tin-  soldiers  degenerated,  until  in  Petrarch's  time 
the  Imperial  armies  were  made  up  of  ruffians  re- 
cruited anywhere.  There  were  also  other  reasons 
Cor  establishing  mercenaries  in  place  of  militia.  The 
despots  of  Northern  Italy  did  not  wish  their  subjects 

trained  to  arms.    The  burghers  of  mercantile  cities  did 


212        A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

not  wish  to  leave  their  counting-rooms,  nor  to  have 
their  employees  mustered  out,  so  they  too  preferred 
hired  soldiers  to  a  native  militia.  Moreover,  warfare 
had  changed  ;  cavalry  needed  frequent  manoeuvres, 
bowmen  and  pikemen  required  drill  and  continuous 
discipline.  Thus  the  old  train-hand  system  of  the 
communes,  under  which  the  militia  hurried  to  their 
appointed  posts  on  the  ringing  of  the  hells,  gave  way 
to  the  system  of  mercenary  troops  led  by  soldiers 
of  fortune,  condottieri,  as  the  Italians  call  them. 

These  soldiers,  who  had  come  down  from  the 
North  to  serve  Emperors,  or  despots  like  the  Vis- 
conti,  or  perhaps  had  sailed  from  Spain  to  fight 
under  the  House  of  Aragon  in  Sicily,  as  soon  as  the 
immediate  war  was  ended,  having  been  left  unpaid 
or  having  taken  a  liking  to  a  trade  in  which  the 
labor  was  congenial,  the  risk  small  and  booty  enor- 
mous, decided  not  to  disband,  but  to  continue  to  try 
their  luck  together.  They  sold  their  services  to 
whatever  city  or  despot  would  pay  them  most,  or 
wandered  about  in  a  nomadic  fashion,  capturing  a 
city  if  they  could,  if  not,  living  on  the  country-side. 
One  can  imagine  these  rogues  among  unwarlike 
peasants,  or  in  a  pleasant  little  city  like  Lucca  or 
Cremona.  They  were  very  fickle,  fought  one  another 
only  upon  compulsion,  and  then  most  reluctantly 
and  gently,  and  were  very  nearly  as  terrible  to  their 
employers  as  to  their  adversaries.  They  were  organ- 
ized, sometimes  very  well,  in  bands  under  a  general 
or  a  council  of  officers,  and  had  such  names  as  The 
Company  of  St.  George,  or  The  Great  Company. 
Some   of   their  leaders  became  very  famous,   like 


ILLS   OF  THE   FOURTEENTH  CENTURY     213 

Duke  Werner,  who  proclaimed  himself  "  Lord  of 
the  Great  Company,  enemy  to  God,  to  Pity,  and 
to  Mercy."  The  most  interesting  of  these  leaders, 
at  least  for  us,  is  John  Hawkwood,  an  English  ad- 
venturer, who  began  life  as  a  London  tailor,  but 
dropped  scissors  and  needle  to  enlist  for  Edward 
Ill's  French  campaign,  and  then,  seeing  fortune 
smile  most  sweetly  from  distraught  Italy,  crossed 
the  Alps  and  led  his  company  all  over  the  penin- 
sula. There  is  a  full  length  fresco  of  him  on  horse- 
back in  the  Duomo  at  Florence,  painted  in  gratitude 
for  his  deeds  in  life  or  merely  for  his  death. 

For  a  hundred  years  and  more  these  ruffians 
swaggered  about  Italy.  Petrarch  finds  in  them  one 
cause  the  more  to  hold  out  his  arms  toward  the 
mighty  past.  He  writes  in  a  letter  :  "  Oh,  would 
that  you  were  alive,  Brutus,  Great-heart,  that  I 
might  turn  to  you.  0  Manlius  —  0  Great  Pompey 
—  0  Julius  Caasar  [etc.,  etc.,  etc.],  0  Jesus,  Lord 
of  the  world,  what  has  happened?  Why  do  I 
moan  and  groan  for  grief?  Oh  !  a  vile  handful  of 
robbers,  spewed  out  of  their  nasty  dens,  walks  and 
rides  over  the  ancient  queen  of  the  world,  Italy. 
( ' h  rist  Jesus,  in  tears  and  supplication  I  turn  to  Thee. 
Oh,  if  we  have  abused  Thy  goodness  more  than  was 
right,  it  we  have  shown  ourselves  too  proud  in  Thy 
aid  and  favour,  if  we  have  borne  ourselves  ill  to- 
wards Thee,  well  mayst  Thou  not  permit  us  to  be 
free;  but  let  not  this  daughter,  these  sacrileges, 
these  robberies,  these  deeds  of  violence,  these  rav- 
ishings  of  wives  and  maidens,  find  mercy  in  Thine 
eyes.    Put  an  end  to  this  evil.   To  the  wicked  who 


214        A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF  ITALY 

have  said  in  their  hearts  'There  is  no  God/  show 
that  Thou  art ;  and  to  us  however  unworthy,  show 
that  we  are  Thy  children.  0  Almighty  Father, 
help  ns  ;  in  Thee  alone  we  put  our  hope,  and  in 
supplication  we  invoke  Thy  name,  weeping  and  con- 
fessing that  there  is  none  who  shall  fight  for  us, 
unless  Thou,  our  Lord,  be  he." 

This  strange  mixture  of  classic  enthusiasm  and 
Christian  piety,  this  odd  idea  that  the  triumphant 
cause  of  the  Roman  Republic  was  due  to  the  favour 
of  Christ,  shows  us  that  Petrarch  had  not  yet  got 
wholly  clear  of  medieval  beliefs.  But,  as  with  Cola 
di  Rienzo,  everything  Petrarch  says  testifies  to  the 
power  of  the  Roman  tradition. 

A  third  evil,  yet  not  to  be  compared  with  the 
plague  and  the  condottieri,  was  the  tyranny  of  the 
despots.  The  founders  of  despotisms  were  men  of 
vigour  and  political  capacity,  and  gave  to  their  sub- 
jects in  lieu  of  liberty  greater  security  and  order 
than  they  had  enjoyed  before.  Their  descendants, 
like  proverbial  heirs,  finding  hard  work  both  dis- 
tasteful and  unnecessary,  gave  themselves  up  to  dis- 
sipation and  cruelty ;  they  dropped  their  ancestors' 
attitude  of  leading  citizens  and  treated  the  prin- 
cipalities as  private  property,  intended  for  their 
amusement.  Tne  Visconti,  though  they  retained 
their  family  ability  and  force  of  character  longer 
than  most  princely  houses,  shall  serve  to  illustrate 
the  general  dynastic  development,  more  especially  as 
the  history  of  Milan,  which  had  become  the  chief 
power  in  Italy,  will  be  the  best  thread  to  carry  us  to 
the  end  of  the  century. 


ILLS   OF   THE   FOURTEENTH   CENTURY     215 

Towards  the  middle  of  the  century  Archbishop 
Giovanni  Visconti  had  become  the  lord  of  Milan 
(1349-54).  He  was  a  clever,  cultivated  man,  inter- 
ested in  letters.  He  employed  scholars  to  prepare  a 
commentary  on  the  "Divine  Comedy," and  by  urgent 
persuasion  in'duced  Petrarch  to  take  up  his  abode  at 
Milan.  On  the  archbishop's  death  his  three  nephews 
succeeded  jointly  to  the  signory.  As  one  of  these 
three  nephews,  Bernabo  (1354-85),  illustrates  the 
moral  degeneracy  of  the  tyrant  we  will  glance  at  his 
habits.  Bernabo  was  addicted  to  the  chase.  Nobody 
else  was  allowed  to  keep  a  dog,  but  he  kept  five  thou- 
sand. These  he  billeted  on  the  citizens  of  Milan. 
Every  fortnight  the  masters  of  his  kennels  made 
their  rounds ;  if  the  dogs  were  too  thin,  a  fine  was 
imposed;  if  dead,  a  general  confiscation.  If  a  man 
killed  a  wild  boar  or  a  hare,  he  was  maimed  or  hanged, 
or  sometimes,  in  mercy,  merely  obliged  to  eat  the 
quarry  raw.  Bernabo  was  afraid  of  conspiracies  and 
rebellion.  No  man  might  go  out  into  the  street  after 
dark  for  any  cause  whatever,  under  pain  of  having 
a  foot  cut  off.  No  man  might  utter  the  words  "  Guelf  " 
or  "  Ghibelline,"  under  penalty  of  having  his  tongue 
cut  out.  Once  Bernabo  shut  up  his  two  secretaries 
in  a  case  with  a  wild  boar.  On  another  occasion  a 
young  man  who  had  polled  a  policeman's  beard  was 
condemned  to  pay  a  small  fine,  but  Bernabo  ordered 

hifl  right  hand  cut  oil'.  The  jfOffrxff)  delayed  execu- 
tion of  the  sentence,  so  that  the  lad's  parents  might 

have  time  to  ask  mercy.  For  this  Bernabo  caused  the 
lad's  two  bands  to  be  cui  off  and  also  the  podestd's 
right  hand.    A  sexton  who  demanded  too  much  for 


21G         A   SHORT  HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

differing  a  grave  was  buried  alive  side  bv  side  with 
the  dead  body.  Two  monks  who  came  to  remon- 
strate with  Bernabd  for  his  cruelty  were  burnt  alive. 
Nevertheless,  Bernabd  protested  himself  devout ;  he 
fasted,  built  churches  and  monasteries.  This  amiable 
man  had  thirty-two  children.  His  brother,  joint  heir 
of  the  principality,  Galeazzo  II,  was  of  the  same  stuff, 
except  that  in  place  of  piety  he  substituted  an  inter- 
est in  letters;  he  founded  the  University  of  Pavia,  and 
exchanged  figs,  flowers,  and  flattery  with  Petrarch. 
Galeazzo's  son,  Gian  Galeazzo  (1378-1402),  rose  still 
higher  in  the  world  ;  he  gave  300,000  sequins  to  the 
King  of  France,  and  in  return  received  the  king's 
daughter  in  marriage.  For  a  second  wife  he  married 
his  cousin,  daughter  of  his  amiable  uncle  Bernabo, 
who  thought  that  this  marriage  would  bind  his 
nephew  to  him  by  bonds  of  filial  affection.  Gian 
Galeazzo  however,  by  means  of  a  trick,  got  his  father- 
in-law  within  his  reach,  arrested  him,  accused  him  of 
witchcraft,  put  him  in  prison  and  poisoned  him,  and 
so  became  sole  lord  of  Milan.  This  worthy  lord 
converted  his  principality  into  a  dukedom  and  be- 
came duke  (1395) ;  but  as  we  have  followed  the  fam- 
ily to  the  end  of  the  century,  and  long  enough  to 
make  ourselves  acquainted  with  the  habits  of  tyrants, 
we  must  leave  them. 

Poor  Italy  suffering  from  these  three  evils,  plagues, 
condottieri,  and  tyrants,  naturally  sought  for  a  cure, 
and,  with  what  seems  to  us  a  singular  lack  of  imagi- 
nation, turned  to  the  old  remedies,  Emperor  and  Pope. 
From  time  to  time  Emperors  came  into  Italy,  but  the 
Hapsburgs  were  very  different  from  the  Hohenstau- 


ILLS   OF  THE   FOURTEENTH  CENTURY     217 

fens,  and  their  trips  to  Rome  were  mere  money-get- 
ting excursions.  They  sold  privileges  and  honours, 
imposed  what  taxes  they  coidd  collect,  and  sneaked 
back  to  Germany.  Obviously  there  was  no  hope  from 
Emperors.  Then  rose  the  cry  for  the  return  of  the  Pa- 
pacy. Every  Italian,  however  he  might  hate  or  de- 
spise the  Popes,  felt  proud  that  the  Papacy  was  an 
Italian  institution,  and  believed  that  every  Pope, 
good  or  bad,  should  live  in  Rome  and  sit  on  his  throne 
at  St.  Peter's.  Sentiment  grew  strong,  especially 
among  the  women  ;  Petrarch  thundered,  St.  Cathe- 
rine of  Siena  pleaded.  Moreover,  the  sharper  argu- 
ment was  urged  with  great  practical  effect,  that  the 
Papal  State  might  shake  off  the  papal  dominion  if 
the  Pontiffs  did  not  look  after  it  themselves.  The 
Popes  began  to  stir  uneasily.  The  cardinals  indeed, 
accustomed  to  the  safe  city  of  Avignon,  did  not  care 
to  go  to  turbulent  Rome,  or  perhaps,  as  Petrarch 
said,  they  could  not  bear  to  leave  their  Burgundian 
wines.  But  finally  Gregory  XI  (1370-78)  raised 
his  courage  to  the  sticking  point.  He  returned  to 
Rome  in  1377,  and  the  Babylonish  Captivity  of 
seventy  years  ended. 


CHAPTER   XXIII 

A   BIRD'S-EYE  VIEW   (1350-1450) 

The  return  of  the  Papacy  to  Rome  was  an  event  of 
importance  both  for  Italy  and  the  Catholic  Church. 
Had  it  remained  in  France,  it  must  have  dwindled 
and  shrunk,  like  Antaeus,  kept  away  from  its  source 
of  strength.  Nevertheless,  the  Papacy  was  no  longer 
what  it  once  had  been ;  it  cannot  serve  us  now  as  a 
central  channel  for  the  course  of  Italian  history,  and 
will  rank  no  higher  than  the  first  of  half-a-dozen 
little  channels,  which  we  must  pursue  separately. 

The  returning  Pope  found  his  territory  in  greater 
obedience  than  he  deserved  ;  for  a  brilliant  Spanish 
cardinal,  Albornoz  who  had  been  sent  some  time 
before  had  reduced  almost  all  the  cities  to  subjection 
(1353-67)  ;  even  Bologna,  successfully  disputed 
with  the  Visconti,  acknowledged  papal  dominion. 
But  there  was  neither  peace  nor  tranquillity.  Every- 
where turbulence  and  murmurous  threatenings  rum- 
bled ;  and  worse  was  to  come.  The  very  year  after 
the  return  from  the  Babylonish  Captivity  the  Great 
Schism  rent  the  Church  asunder  for  forty  years. 
There  were  two  parties  in  the  College  of  Cardinals, 
the  French  and  the  Italian,  with  little  love  lost  be- 
tween them.  The  Italians  were  in  control  and  elected 
Urban  VI  (1378-89),  a  domineering,  cruel,  most 
unpastoral  person,  who  insulted  the  foreign  cardi- 


A   BIRD'S-EYE   VIEW  219 

nals,  and  so  angered  them  that  they  left  Rome, 
declared  his  election  illegal,  and  elected  one  of 
themselves  as  Pope  in  his  stead.  This  anti-pope, 
attended  by  his  troop  of  cardinals,  returned  to 
Avignon.  Christian  Europe  divided  in  two  :  some 
countries  recognized  Urban,  others  recognized  the 
anti-pope.  Thus  the  schism  began,  and  prepared 
the  way  for  the  next  great  split  of  Christian  Europe 
into  Catholics  and  Protestants.  There  were  now 
two  sources  of  apostolic  succession,  two  supreme 
rulers,  and  two  systems  of  taxation.  Misbehaviour 
and  confusion  at  the  top  lowered  the  moral  tone  of 
the  whole  Church.  The  Curia  in  Rome  was  scan- 
dalously venal.  Indulgences  were  sold  :  offices  were 
bestowed  for  money.  Nobody  in  Rome  respected 
the  Pope,  hardly  anybody  respected  the  clergy. 

All  Christendom  felt  that  reformation  was  ne- 
cessary, and  that,  first  of  all,  the  schism  must  be 
closed.  Thereupon  some  outward  deference  was 
paid  to  public  opinion  ;  the  Roman  Pope  went  so 
far  as  to  make  ostensible  overtures  to  his  rival  at 
Avignon,  and  he  of  Avignon  bowed  and  smiled 
most  politely  in  return.  Friendly  greetings  went  to 
and  fro,  and  a  meeting  was  talked  of.  It  became 
obvious,  however,  after  a  time,  thai  neither  Pope 
had  the  slightest  intention  of  abdicating  in  the 
other's  favour.  Christendom  remained  insistent,  and 
the  two  batches  of  cardinals  took  the  matter  into 
their  own  hands.  They  held  b  Council  at  Pisa, 
which  deposed  both  Popes,  and  elected  a  third 
i  1  109),  but,  as  the  other  two  Popes  refused  to  ac- 
knowledge their  deposition,  matters  were  worse  than 


220         A   SHORT   HISTORY  OF   ITALY 

before.  The  situation  recalled  the  old  days  when 
a  German  Emperor  had  come  down  to  Rome  and 
had  deposed  three  rival  Popes  together.  The  need 
seemed  to  revive  the  past.  The  Emperor  Sigismund 
(1410-37)  assumed  to  speak  as  the  head  of  Chris- 
tendom. He  summoned  an  Ecumenical  Council  to 
meet  at  the  city  of  Constance,  on  the  Lake  of  Con- 
stance, to  judge  the  schismatic  quarrel  and  to  consider 
the  general  state  of  the  Church.  Other  troubles 
besides  schism  had  begun  to  appear.  The  failure 
of  Rome  to  satisfy  the  conscience  of  Europe  had 
borne  fruit.  Heresy  had  appeared.  In  England, 
Wyclif  (1327-84)  had  denounced  the  higher  clergy 
for  greed  and  arrogance;  he  had  disavowed  alle- 
giance to  the  divided  Papacy,  and  had  opposed  the 
doctrine  of  transubstantiation.  In  Bohemia,  Jerome 
of  Prague  rejected  the  temporal  jurisdiction  of 
priests,  and  John  Huss  asserted  that  Constantine 
had  done  great  wrong  when  he  endowed  Pope  Sil- 
vester with  lands  and  temporal  power. 

Christendom  responded  to  the  Emperor's  call. 
Prelates  and  scholars  of  the  highest  character  and 
standing  assembled  at  Constance  (1414).  It  was  a 
great  occasion,  and  belongs  to  the  history  of  Eu- 
rope. This  Council,  the  seventeenth  Ecumenical 
Council  of  the  Christian  Church  (1414-18),  deposed 
all  three  Popes,  and  elected  a  Roman,  of  the  House 
of  Colonna,  Martin  V  (1417-31),  and  so  closed  the 
schism  and  restored  unity  to  the  Church.  The  more 
difficult  matter  of  crushing  heresy  was  not  so  readily 
dealt  with.  The  two  reformers,  Jerome  of  Prague 
and  John  Huss,  refused  to  recant  or  modify  their 


A   BIRD'S-EYE  VIEW  221 

views.  They  were  condemned  and  handed  over  to 
the  secular  arm  for  punishment ;  and  the  Emperor, 
heedless  of  the  safe-con  duct  he  had  given,  burnt 
them  at  the  stake  (1415-16). 

To  follow  the  proceedings  of  this  interesting 
Council  more  fully  would  take  us  too  far  into  papal 
affairs.  It  must  suffice  to  say  that  the  Reformation 
can  be  sniffed  in  the  air.  Rome  had  not  done  its 
elementary  duties  as  head  of  Christendom,  and 
Christendom  insisted  on  a  change  and  on  reform  ; 
but  Rome  was  powerful  and  would  not  submit. 
Two  parties  appear,  the  reformers  and  the  papists. 
The  former  wished  to  purify  the  Roman  Curia  and 
the  whole  Church,  and  to  give  the  Papacy  a  repub- 
lican character,  —  to  make  the  Pope  a  president, 
as  it  were,  and  the  College  of  Cardinals  a  senate. 
The  latter  liked  the  old  easy  ways  and  wished  the 
Pope  to  be  absolute  monarch.  The  papal  party  by 
dexterous  politics  foiled  the  plans  of  the  reformers 
and  prevented  change  of  any  kind,  although  no  doubt 
it  acted  less  from  desire  to  obstruct  reform  than  to 
prevent  the  anti-monarchical  party  from  getting 
control  of  the  Church  and  using  the  prestige  of  re- 
form to  attack  the  papal  autocracy.  From  this  time 
on  the  papal  party  consistently  pursued  this  course, 
ami  therefore  reformation  came  not  from  Koine,  but 
from  (Jermanv,  and  instead  of  being  a  reform  from 
within,  came  practically  as  an  attack    from  without. 

and  caused  fche  permanent  schism  of  the  Reforma- 
tion.    We  must   now  leave  the  1'apacv,  which  follows 

it-    wilful     COUrSI via    Pabylonish    Ahsenteeism, 

Schism,  and  refusal  to  reform        and   steers  directly 


222         A  SHORT   HISTORY   OF  ITALY 

towards  the  rocks  of  the  Reformation,  and  betake 
ourselves  to  the  other  parts  of  Italy. 

The  Kingdom  of  Naples  would  have  been  badly 
off  at  best  under  its  light-mannered  queen,  Joan  I 
(13-43-81),  but  it  became  involved  in  the  papal 
schism,  and  got  into  a  wretched  plight.  The  queen 
rashly  took  sides  with  the  Avignon  Pope,  and  the 
irascible  Roman  Pope  vowed  vengeance.  He  set 
her  cousin,  Charles,  who  belonged  to  the  Durazzo 
branch  of  the  House  of  Anjou,  on  the  throne  in  her 
stead.  The  story  is  a  miserable  mixture  of  treasons, 
battles,  and  vulgar  crimes.  Charles  got  possession 
of  the  unfortunate  queen  and  strangled  her,  and  he 
and  his  heirs  fought  her  adopted  heirs  for  years. 
Each  side  hired  mercenaries.  John  Hawkwood 
was  there,  and  other  notable  leaders.  Poor  Naples, 
taxed,  robbed,  and  ravaged  by  rival  kings,  their 
favourites,  and  mistresses,  rolled  rapidly  from  bad 
to  worse.  Exception  must  be  made  in  favour  of 
Charles's  son  Ladislaus  (1390-1414),  a  bold,  enter- 
prising soldier,  who  played  a  part  in  the  affairs  of 
Italy  like  that  of  his  ancestor,  Charles  of  Anjou. 
But  he  failed  in  not  leaving  a  son  to  inherit  the 
crown,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  sister,  another 
Queen  Joan  (1414-35),  likewise  light-mannered. 
There  is  nothing  memorable  to  grace  her  career, 
except  the  presence  of  a  soldier  of  fortune,  once  a 
Romagnol  peasant,  Muzio  Attendolo,  better  known 
as  Attendolo  Sforza  (strength).  His  son  was  Fran- 
cesco Sforza,  destined  to  a  brilliant  career  in  Milan. 
The  queen  did  one  thing,  however,  for  which  we, 
who  clutch  at  any  unification  of  Italian  history,  must 


A   BIRD'S-EYE  VIEW  223 

thank  her.  She  adopted,  not  wholly  of  her  free  will, 
Alfonso  of  Aragon,  King-  of  Sicily,  and  so  brought 
about,  though  for  a  few  years  only,  the  reunion  of 
the  Two  Sicilies. 

With  regard  to  Sicily  we  need  say  nothing  except 
that  the  royal  House,  which  still  had  a  strain  of 
Hohenstaufen-Norman  blood,  died  out,  and  that 
Sicily  passed  as  a  marriage  portion  to  the  crown 
of  Aragon,  and  became  a  mere  appanage  of  that 
kingdom  (1409).  Finally,  as  I  have  said,  King  Al- 
fonso was  adopted  as  heir  to  the  second  Queen  Joan, 
and  took  part  in  the  civil  wars  that  devastated 
Naples.  Then  began  the  long  struggle  of  Spaniard 
against  Frenchman  (the  Neapolitan  House  of  Anjou 
was  still  French),  which  was  destined  to  be  so  disas- 
trous to  Italy.  Alfonso  conquered  and  was  acknow- 
ledged King  of  the  Two  Sicilies  by  his  suzerain  the 
Pope  (1443).  Thus  for  a  time  the  Southern  Kingdom 
was  united  and  at  peace.  It  is  a  happy  moment  to 
leave  it  and  go  northward,  in  the  hope  of  finding 
greater  moral  and  intellectual  activity,  if  not  greater 
tranquillity  and  order. 

To  the  northeast,  Venice  had  been  growing  in 
power;  but  with  the  growth  of  her  power  the 
Dumber  of  her  enemies  and  their  bitterness  towards 
her  had  grown.  Her  possessions  on  the  mainland, 
wrested  Erom  Verona,  broughl  her  into  hostility 
with  Padua;  her  Adriatic  possessions,  [stria  and 
Dalmatia,  made  her  an  enemy  of  Hungary;  her 
coastwise  empire  and  trade  in  the  Levant  made 
Genoa  her  deadly  rival;  and  her  imperial  expansion 
entangled  her  in  war  after  war.    Both  the  war  with 


224         A   SHORT  HISTORY   OF  ITALY 

Padua  and  that  with  Hungary  told  upon  her,  but 
the  struggle  with  Genoa  was  far  worse.  During  the 
last  grapple,  known  as  the  war  of  Chioggia  (1378- 
81),  Venice  was  reduced  to  narrow  straits,  and  but 
for  her  great  admirals,  Vettor  Pisani  and  Carlo 
Zeno,  would  have  been  defeated.  Genoa  never  re- 
covered from  the  losses  she  sustained ;  but  Venice 
regained  her  strength,  and  renewed  her  conquests 
on  the  mainland.  She  conquered  Padua  (1404)  and 
strangled  the  last  heirs  of  the  House  of  Carrara, 
though  they  were  prisoners  of  war ;  she  seized 
Verona,  and  set  a  price  on  the  heads  of  the  last  of 
the  Scaligers,  though  they  had  been  her  allies.  Her 
chief  expansion  on  the  mainland  of  Italy  was  under 
the  Doge  Francesco  Foscari  (1423-57),  when  she 
annexed  Bergamo  and  Brescia,  and  carried  her 
western  boundary  to  the  river  Adda.  For  the  sake 
of  convenience  we  may  divide  the  life  of  Venice 
into  four  stages  :  first,  her  lusty  youth,  which  closed 
with  the  profligate  capture  of  Constantinople  and  the 
piratical  dismemberment  of  the  Byzantine  Empire 
(1204) ;  second,  her  vigorous  prime,  which  lasted  till 
she  annexed  Italian  territory,  threw  in  her  lot  with 
Italy,  and  from  being  almost  an  Oriental  outsider 
became  an  Italian  state  (1338) ;  third,  her  glorious 
maturity,  which  continued  till  the  League  of  Cambrai, 
when  almost  all  Europe  united  to  destroy  her  (1508) ; 
and  fourth,  her  long  period  of  ebbing  fortune,  dur- 
ing which  she  slipped  slowly  into  decrepitude.  In 
the  present  chapter  we  deal  with  the  earlier  part 
of  her  maturity,  when  Venice  was  contesting  with 
Milan  for  primacy  in  power  and  importance. 


A  BIRD'S-EYE  VIEW  225 

During  all  this  period  the  oligarchy  had  been 
tightening  its  hold  on  the  government,  and  was 
now  absolute  and  secure.  One  last  attempt  had 
been  made  to  overthrow  it,  but  had  easily  been  put 
down.  No  one  knows  exactly  what  led  to  the  con- 
spiracy, or  what  was  the  exact  purpose  of  the  conspir- 
ators. The  ringleader  was  the  Doge  himself,  Marino 
Faliero,  one  of  the  old  nobility.  The  story  is  that 
he  wished  to  revenue  himself  for  a  jn-oss  insult  from 
a  young  nobleman,  and  it  seems  likely  that  a  per- 
sonal quarrel  had  some  connection  with  a  general 
plot  which  aimed  to  overthrow  the  oligarchy,  and 
substitute  a  government  of  the  old  nobility  sup- 
ported by  the  people.  The  plot  was  betrayed.  Nine 
of  the  conspirators  were  hanged  from  the  windows 
of  the  Ducal  Palace.  Faliero's  head  was  cut  off,  his 
portrait  in  the  hall  of  the  Ducal  Palace  was  painted 
out,  and  in  the  blank  space  was  written  :  "  This  is 
the  place  of  Marino  Faliero,  beheaded  for  his 
crimes." 

The  oligarchy  did  not  fail  in  its  duty  to  itself, 
but  neither  did  it  fail  in  its  duty  to  the  state.  Com- 
merce was  the  life  of  Venice ;  and  the  oligarchy 
tended  it  with  the  utmost  care.  The  famous  Vene- 
tian arsenal  was  the  foster-mother  of  thai  commerce. 
There  the  money-getting  ship^  were  built  and 
equipped:  caracks  with  three  decks  and  great  depth 

of  hold,  galleasses  with  high  forecastle  and  poop, 
galleys  with  long  rows  of  oars  and  lateen  sails,  all 
of  different  builds  to  suit  tin;  rough  Atlantic  Ocean, 
the  .Mediterranean  Sea.  or  the  safe]-  Adriatic. 

Kiche>,  a  firm  rule,  and   the  security  of  an  island 


226         A   SHORT  HISTORY  OF  ITALY 

home,  showed  visibly  in  Venice.  Instead  of  for- 
tresses with  massive  walls  and  solid  towers,  light, 
elegant  palaces,  decked  with  gay  balconies  and  in- 
crusting  marbles,  lined  the  canals.  All  revealed  tran- 
quillity and  prosperity ;  and  the  adoption  of  Gothic 
architecture  in  place  of  Byzantine,  and  in  especial 
the  long- Gothic  arcades  of  the  Ducal  Palace  (1300- 
40),  testified  how  Venice  had  turned  her  face  from 
the  East  to  the  West.  In  contrast  with  Sicily  and 
Naples,  rolling  down  hill  separately  or  together,  and 
with  the  troubled  Papal  States,  Venice  appears  alto- 
gether happy  and  successful  as  she  passes  from  the 
fourteenth  into  the  fifteenth  century. 

Milan  we  have  brought  to  the  dignity  of  a  duke- 
dom, for  which  Gian  Galeazzo  Visconti  (1378-1402), 
the  amiable  nephew  of  the  too-confiding  Bernabo, 
paid  the  price  of  100,000  sequins  to  the  fount  of 
honour,  the  ultramontane  Emperor.  This  nephew, 
despite  a  moral  inadequacy  in  his  family  relations,  was 
in  many  respects  an  excellent  ruler.  He  reduced  the 
more  burdensome  taxes  (in  one  city,  it  is  said,  he 
cut  them  down  from  12,000  florins  to  400),  and  abol- 
ished others  altogether.  He  corrected  abuses,  reor- 
ganized the  administration  of  justice,  and  enacted 
wise  laws.  He  understood  the  pride  of  the  Milanese 
in  their  city,  and  laid  the  foundations  of  the  great 
Gothic  cathedral  on  a  scale  to  gratify  that  pride ;  he 
began  the  beautiful  church  of  the  Cistercian  monks, 
the  Certosa,  at  Pavia ;  he  completed  the  palace  at 
Pa  via,  whither  he  transported  his  famous  collection  of 
books  and  an  equally  famous  collection  of  holy  bones. 
He  had  the  family  ambition,  and  annexed  Vicenza, 


A   BIKD'S-EYE    VIEW  227 

Verona,  Padua.  Siena,  Assisi,  Perugia,  Pisa,  and 
Bologna.  Rumour  said  that  he  aspired  to  a  kingdom 
of  Lombard  v.  and  even  of  all  Italy.  But  Venice  and 
Florence  were  too  powerful  for  the  success  of  his 
plans.  Venice,  perhaps,  might  have  regarded  her- 
self as  still  too  much  detached  from  Italy  to  care  to 
oppose  him  single-handed  ;  but  the  doughty  burghers 
of  Florence  were  zealously  democratic  and  would  not 
endure  any  suggestion  of  foreign  dominion.  They 
had  fought  the  Pope,  when  they  suspected  him  of 
designs  on  their  city,  and  now  they  organized  a 
league  against  Gian  Galeazzo.  Perhaps  it  would 
have  been  a  most  fortunate  thing  for  Italy  if  the 
Duke  of  Milan  had  been  able  to  consolidate  all  Italy, 
or  even  all  the  North,  in  one  kingdom.  Centuries 
of  suffering,  of  ignominy,  of  foreign  domination 
might  have  been  avoided  ;  but  then,  perhaps,  the 
great  intellectual  harvest,  that  gave  Italy  for  the  third 
time  primacy  over  Europe,  would  not  have  attained  its 
full  growth.  These  are  idle  speculations,  for  Gian 
Galeazzo  died  in  his  prime  (1402),  and  the  univer- 
sal dominion  of  Milan  became  an  academic  ques- 
tion. Nevertheless,  one  cannot  withhold  a  sensation 
of  regret.  There  was  undoubted  brilliance  in  Gian 
Galeazzo;  whatever  lie  did  was  done  royally.  His 
ambitions  were  high,  planned  always  on  a  large 
scale.  Bis  purchases  of  the  French  king's  daughter 
and  of  the  ducal  in!.-  were  Bplendidly  prodigal.  The 
design  of  tie-  cathedral  was  ooble  and  bold.  It 
an  endeavour  to  give  the  Gothic  Btyle  an  Italian 
character.  In  tlii-  it  Is  easj  to  find  symbolism.  The 
Gothic  Btyle  represented  the  <  i  1 1  i  I » *  •  1 1  i  1 1  *  -  cause,  as 


228        A   SHORT  HISTORY  OF  ITALY 

well  as  Teutonic  blood  and  influence,  whereas  the 
Italian  represented  the  Guelf  cause  and  also  Latin 
blood.  The  high-aspiriog  Gian  Galeazzo  wished  to 
use  both  Teutonic  and  Italian  elements  as  the  ma- 
terials for  his  kingdom.  In  view  of  his  intellec- 
tual gifts,  one  readily  slurs  over  his  moral  inade- 
quacy, if  that  term  may  be  applied  to  traits  which 
would  have  done  honour  to  Iago  ;  in  fact,  prior  to 
Caesar  Borgia,  he  was  the  most  distinguished  example 
of  the  type  of  intellectual,  murderous  Italian,  which 
exercised  so  powerful  an  attraction  over  the  wild 
fancy  of  the  Elizabethan  dramatists. 

Gian  Galeazzo's  death  left  his  dukedom  in  a  cha- 
otic condition.  A  widow,  a  regent  committee,  and 
three  boys  were  left  to  see  the  state,  built  up  with 
so  much  care  and  astuteness,  fall  away  piecemeal 
into  the  hands  of  the  petty  despots,  who  had  been 
dispossessed  during  the  process  of  integration.  Ven- 
ice took  Verona,  Padua,  and  other  cities  near  by ; 
the  Papacy  got  back  Bologna,  Florence  managed 
to  secure  Pisa.  Thus  the  dukedom  was  carved  up. 
The  eldest  son  died  soon,  leaving  behind  him  a  mem- 
ory of  the  pleasure  he  took  in  watching  mastiffs  tear 
his  prisoners  to  pieces ;  but  the  second  son,  Filippo 
Maria  (1412-47),  inherited  his  father's  craft  and 
much  of  his  ability.  By  means  of  two  famous  con- 
dot fieri,  Carmagnola,  best  remembered  as  the  victim 
of  Venetian  anger,  and  Francesco  Sforza,  of  whom 
we  have  heard  in  the  Neapolitan  service,  he  grad- 
ually restored  the  dukedom  very  nearly  to  its  bound- 
aries under  his  father.  Filippo  Maria  was  the  last 
of   his  race,    and  we    will  leave  him,  engaged   in 


A   BIRD'S-EYE   VIEW  229 

speculation  as  to  the  best   political  use  of  his  mar- 
riageable daughter  Bianca  Maria. 

We  must  pass  over  the  Counts  of  Savoy,  now 
become  dukes  ( 1-11(5 1,  the  marquesses  of  Monferrat 
and  Saluzzo,  and  the  lords  of  other  petty  territories, 
and  turn  our  attention  to  Florence.  Florence  was 
always  in  a  state  of  struggle,  always  engaged  in 
exiling,  deposing,  or  in  some  way  suppressing  aris- 
tocrats. Forced,  in  days  of  peril,  to  receive  foreign 
lords  as  military  leaders,  she  had  managed  to  expel 
the  last  of  them,  one  Walter  of  Brienne,  a  clever 
knave,  who  bore  the  odd  title  of  Duke  of  Athens, 
which  he  had  inherited  from  his  grandfather,  one 
of  the  gentlemen  adventurers  who  had  gone  to  the 
East.  His  father  had  been  expelled  from  Athens, 
and  the  son  was  happily  driven  out  of  Florence. 
The  burghers  followed  up  their  victory  (1343) 
with  new  laws  against  the  aristocrats,  and  held  the 
government  for  a  generation.  Then  first  appears 
the  name  of  Medici.  One  Salvestro  dei  Medici,  as 
Gonfalonu  re  of  Justice,  the  supreme  officer  in  Flor- 
ence under  the  existing  constitution,  proposed  fur- 
ther laws  in  favour  of  the  people.  The  lower  classes, 
with  whetted  appetites,  wanted  more.  The  mechanics 
and  artisans  of  the  lower  guilds,  and  more  particu- 
larly the  wool  carders  and  combers  (the  Oiompi)  of 

the    great    wool    guilds,  r08€    in   riot,  overturned    the 

government,  andputa  wool-^carder,  Micheledi  Lando, 

at  the  head  of  the  city  ( L378).    Florence  was  demo- 
cratic, hut   not  BO  democratic  as  to  submit  to  the  rule 

of  a  wool-carder.   The  rich  burghers  would  not  stom- 
ach   a   plebeian  any  more    than    thev  would   a   king 


230         A   SHORT   HISTORY  OF  ITALY 

A  reaction  set  in,  and  the  government  passed  into 
the  \t  i\  competent  hands  of  an  oligarchy  of  distin- 
guished citizens.  This  oligarchy  governed  well.  Its 
Leaders,  Maso  degli  Albizzi,  and  Niccolo  da  Uzzano, 
acted  patriotically  and  wisely.  They  resisted  the 
aggressions  of  Milan  from  the  north,  and  of  Naples 
( under  that  exceptional  king  Ladislaus)  from  the 
south,  and  made  it  their  policy  to  maintain  the  bal- 
ance of  power  in  Italy.  Under  this  oligarchy  began 
the  great  development  of  art,  known  as  the  Renais- 
sance, or,  to  be  more  exact  in  quoting  the  textbooks, 
the  First  or  Early  Renaissance.  To  that  subject, 
which  shall  give  us  for  a  time  at  least  a  centre,  and 
save  us  from  these  puzzling  political  subdivisions, 
we  joyfully  proceed  ;  only  remembering  that  at  this 
period  Italy  has  these  main  political  divisions,  — 
the  Kingdom  of  Sicily,  the  Kingdom  of  Naples  (the 
two  temporarily  reunited),  the  Papal  States,  the  city 
of  Florence,  the  duchy  of  Milan,  and  the  city  of 
Venice. 


CHAPTER  XXIV 

THE  EARLY  RENAISSANCE  (1400-1450) 

By  Renaissance,  new  birth,  we  mean  the  rapid, 
many-sided,  intellectual  development  which  started 
forward  in  Italy  at  this  time.  It  was  really  a  stage  in 
the  movement  which  began  a  hundred  years  earlier, 
but  the  textbooks  confine  the  term  Renaissance  to 
the  period  which  began  at  the  opening  of  the  fif- 
teenth century ;  and  just  as  the  first  beginning 
took  place  in  Florence,  so  this  fresh  start,  like  a 
stream  of  energy  issuing  at  a  divine  touch,  also 
burst  out  of  the  city  of  Florence.  The  simplest  way 
to  get  an  idea  of  this  period,  known  as  the  Early 
Renaissance,  will  be  to  notice  a  few  of  the  men,  lead- 
ers in  their  several  spheres,  in  whom  that  energy 
became  incarnate. 

We  must  not  let  ourselves  think  that  the  Renais- 
sance was  a  merely  artistic  movement.  A  few  men 
are  known  to  us.  and  we  think  of  them  as  wandering 
about  in  artistic  isolation,  as  if  they  were  hermits  iu 
a  Thebaid.  But,  in  reality,  only  a  Blight  traction  of 
even  the  deeper  feelings  and  interests  take  artistic 
or  literary  form  ;  the  great  majority  are  put  into  life. 
The  celebrated  Florentine  artists  of  tints.-  days  were 
merely  representative  of  their  fellows;  they  wen-  sur- 
rounded by  crowde  of  neighbours,  all  crammed  full 
with  ardour  for  living,  for  expression,  for  discussion, 


232         A   SHORT   HISTORY  OF   ITALY 

for  money-making,  for  glorifying  their  city.  In  re- 
cognition of  this  fact,  and  of  the  great  service  ren- 
dered to  the  arts  throughout  the  Renaissance  by 
men  who  were  not  artists,  but  potent  signors  of 
wealth  and  cultivation,  whether  merchants,  dukes, 
or  cardinals,  I  take  Cosimo  dei  Medici  (1389-1464) 
as  the  first  figure  in  this  brief  account  of  the  Early 
Renaissance. 

Cosimo's  father,  the  richest  banker  in  Italy,  and 
one  of  the  chief  citizens  of  Florence,  had  been 
active  in  politics,  and  chief  of  the  party  which  was 
opposed  to  the  ruling  oligarchy.  Cosimo  succeeded 
to  his  father's  position,  and  when  the  oligarchy  fell 
became  the  actual  head  of  the  city,  though  he  always 
affected  the  role  of  private  citizen.  His  quick  in- 
telligence and  his  broad  cultivation  gave  him  keen 
sympathy  with  the  fermenting  intellectual  life  about 
him,  and  his  great  wealth  enabled  him  to  express  that 
sympathy  in  most  substantial  ways.  He  got  his  first 
schooling  from  a  Florentine  humanist,  and  then  went 
abroad,  travelled  in  Germany  and  France,  and  visited 
the  Council  of  Constance  then  in  session.  After  that 
his  attention  was  devoted  to  business  and  to  political 
affairs.  His  position  in  Florence  during  early  man- 
hood was  always  precarious,  for  the  sharp-witted 
Florentines  were  not  easily  hoodwinked  and  saw 
whither  Cosimo's  masterfulness  was  tending.  For 
a  time  he  was  in  exile,  but  after  a  tussle  he  won  his 
place  and  banished  his  enemies.  Wealth  wras  his  great 
instrument.  He  lent  and  gave  lavishly.  In  later  life 
he  used  to  say  that  his  chief  error  had  been  that  he 
had  not  begun  to  spend  money  ten  years    sooner 


THE    EARLY   RENAISSANCE  233 

than  he  did.  He  was  a  serious  man,  given  to  intel- 
lectual matters,  and  averse  to  buffoons  and  strolling 
players,  so  popular  then  ;  by  virtue  of  wide  expe- 
rience in  the  conduct  of  large  affairs,  of  extensive 
reading,  of  a  retentive  memory,  and  a  natural  gift 
for  lan&ruase,  he  was  both  an  interesting  talker  and 
good  company.  He  talked  literature  with  men  of 
letters,  but  he  was  equally  ready  to  talk  divinity,  in 
which  he  was  well  read,  or  philosophy,  or  astrology 
in  which  he  believed  although  some  men  did  not. 
He  liked  gardening,  and  enjoyed  going  out  of  town 
to  his  country-place ;  there  he  would  prune  the  vines 
for  two  hours  in  the  morning,  and  then  go  indoors 
to  read.  His  connection  with  the  arts  of  the  Renais- 
sance, however,  is  our  chief  concern.  He  employed 
the  famous  architect  Michelozzo  to  build  his  palace, 
now  known  as  Palazzo  Riccardi,  his  villa,  and  also  the 
Dominican  convent  of  San  Marco.  He  employed  the 
still  more  famous  Brunelleschi  to  rebuild  the  abbey 
of  Fiesole.  He  was  fond  of  sculptors,  especially  of 
Donatello,  and  had  statues  by  the  best  masters  of  the 
day  in  his  palace.  He  employed  Fra  Angelico  to 
paint  in  the  convent  of  San  Marco,  and  Benozzo 
Grozzoli  in  his  private  chapel.  Benozzo  painted  a 
procession  of  the  Three  Wise  Men,  with  Cosimo,  his 
BOD,  and  his  grandson,  young  Lorenzo  the  Magnifi- 
cent, riding  in  their  train.  Cosimo's  greatest  interest, 
however,  was  in  the  humanities.  Be  built  several 
buildings  for  libraries  in  Florence,  and  one  in  Venice, 
and  interested  himself  greatly  in  the  preservation 
and  increase  of  the  libraries  themselves.  For  the 
library  in  the  abbey  at  Fiesole  he  employed  a  man 


234         A   SHORT   HISTORY  OF   ITALY 

of  letters  (Vespasiano  da  Bisticci,  his  biographer), 
who  hired  forty-five  copyists,  and  in  twenty-two 
months  finished  the  two  hundred  volumes  deemed 
necessary  for  a  good  library.  His  list  included  the 
Bible  and  concordances  and  commentaries,  beginning 
with  that  by  Origen  ;  the  works  of  St.  Ignatius,  St. 
Basil,  St.  Gregory  Nazianzen,  St.  John  Chrysostom, 
and  all  the  works  of  the  Greek  fathers  which  had 
been  translated  into  Latin  ;  St.  Cyprian,  Tertullian, 
and  the  four  doctors  of  the  Latin  Church ;  the 
mediaeval  masters  St.  Bernard,  Hugo  of  St.  Victor, 
St.  Anselm,  St.  Isidore  of  Spain  ;  the  scholastic 
philosophers,  Albertus  Magnus,  Alexander  of  Hales, 
Thomas  Aquinas,  Bonaventura;  Aristotle,  and  com- 
mentaries ;  books  of  canon  law ;  the  Latin  prose 
classics,  Livy,  Caesar,  Suetonius,  Plutarch,  Sallust, 
Quintus  Curtius,  Valerius  Maximus,  Cicero,  Seneca; 
the  Latin  poets,  Virgil,  Terence,  Ovid,  Lucan,  Sta- 
tius,  Plautus ;  and  "  all  the  other  books  necessary 
to  a  library."  One  wonders  if  this  clause  includes 
Dante,  Petrarch,  and  Boccaccio,  or  whether  the  hu- 
manists did  not  regard  them  as  necessary  or  appro- 
priate to  culture. 

Taken  altogether  Cosimo  may  stand  as  an  heroic 
model  of  the  Florentine  burgher,  such  as  one  sees  in 
the  frescoes  of  the  time,  shrewd,  prudent,  thought- 
ful, cautious  in  plan  and  prompt  in  action,  interested 
in  the  best  things  of  this  world,  and  in  a  measure 
generous,  but  wholly  without  romance,  chivalry,  or 
idealism.  At  the  close  of  his  life  he  used  to  stay 
hours  at  a  time,  wrapt  in  thought,  without  speak- 
ing a  word.    One  of  the  women  of  the  house  asked 


THE   EARLY   RENAISSANCE  235 

him  the  reason  of  this.  He  answered  :  "  When  you 
have  to  go  out  of  town,  you  spend  a  fortnight  all 
agog  to  prepare  for  going ;  and  now  that  I  have  to 
go  from  this  life  to  another,  does  n't  it  seem  to  you 
that  I  have  something  to  think  about  ?  "  The  last 
book  he  is  reported  by  his  biographer  to  have  read 
was  the  "  Ethics  "  of  Aristotle. 

Cosimo  was  named  Pater  Patrice,  though  his  real 
work  was  the  foundation  of  the  House  of  the  Me- 
dici, which  ruled  in  Tuscany  for  centuries  and  min- 
gled its  blood  with  the  royalties  of  Europe ;  but  for 
us  he  is  the  patron  of  the  arts,  the  friend  of  artists, 
and  serves  as  the  central  figure  round  which  to 
group  the  men  of  artistic  genius. 

In  architecture  the  greatest  name  is  that  of  Bru- 
nelleschi  (1377-1-446).  His  biography  by  Vasari 
opens  with  these  words  :  "  Many  men  are  created  by 
nature  little  in  person  and  features,  who  have  their 
souls  so  full  of  greatness  and  their  hearts  so  full 
of  the  inordinate  fury  of  genius,  that,  unless  they 
are  at  work  on  things  difficult  to  impossibility, 
and  unless  they  finish  them  to  the  astonishment  of 
the  spectator,  they  never  give  themselves  any  rest 
all  tlnir  lives;  and  whatever  things  chance  puts  into 
their  hands,  HO  matter  how  mean  and  cheap,  they 
bring  to  worth  and  dignify.  .  .  .  Such  was  Brunel- 
leschi,  no  less  insignificant  in  person  than  Giotto, 
but  of  so  lofty  genius,  thai  it  may  be  Baid  he  was 
endowed  by  beaven  to  give  new  form  to  architec- 
ture, which  for  hundreds  of  years  bad  gone  astray 
[such  was  the  Renaissance  rie*  of  the  Gothic  and 
Romanesque].    Moreover,  Brunelleschj  was  adorned 


•S.w>        A   SHORT   HISTORY  OF  ITALY 

with  the  greatest  virtues  ;  among1  which  was  friend- 
ship to  such  a  degree,  that  there  never  was  a  man 
more  kind  or  more  loving  than  he.  His  judgment 
was  wholly  free  from  passion  ;  wherever  he  saw  the 
worth  of  another  man's  merits,  he  totally  disre- 
garded any  advantage  to  himself  or  to  his  friends. 
He  knew  himself ;  he  inspired  others  with  his  own 
noble  qualities,  and  he  always  succoured  his  neigh- 
bour in  time  of  need.  He  declared  himself  a  deadly 
enemy  of  the  vices,  and  a  lover  of  those  who  prac- 
tised virtue.  He  never  wasted  time,  for  he  was 
always  busy  with  his  own  affairs  or  with  the  affairs 
of  others  when  they  had  need  of  him,  and  when  out 
walking  he  used  to  stop  and  see  his  friends  and 
always  lent  them  a  hand."  Brunelleschi  was  no 
scholar,  but,  being  a  Florentine,  he  was  very  fond 
of  talking,  and  did  not  hesitate  to  take  part  in  con- 
versation with  learned  men,  especially  when  the  talk 
ran  on  Holy  Writ,  and  then,  as  a  friend  said,  he 
talked  like  a  second  St.  Paul. 

He  began  life,  as  most  architects  did,  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  guild  of  goldsmiths,  and  learned  to  model, 
but  he  had  a  bent  towards  physics  and  mechanics, 
and  developed  naturally  into  an  architect.  A  great 
event  in  his  life  was  a  trip  to  Rome  with  Donatello ; 
there  the  two  examined  all  the  classical  remains  in 
the  city  and  in  the  country  round  about,  taking 
measurements  and  learning  all  they  could. 

In  Florence  besides  the  abbey  of  Fiesole,  built  for 
Cosimo,  Brunelleschi  built  the  church  of  San  Lo- 
renzo for  Cosimo's  father,  and  he  designed  and  be- 
gan the  lordly  Pitti  palace  across  the  Arno,  but  his 


THE   EARLY   RENAISSANCE  237 

great  achievement  was  the  dome  of  the  cathedral. 
The  cathedral,  first  begun  by  Arnolfo  di  Cambio, 
had  been  in  charge  of  a  succession  of  famous  archi- 
tects, and  was  nearing  completion;  but  the  gap  at 
the  intersection  of  the  nave  and  transepts  presented 
a  most  difficult  architectural  problem.  The  diametei 
of  this  gap  was  about  one  hundred  and  thirty-five 
feet,  and  the  height  above  the  ground  was  a  I  tout 
one  hundred  and  forty-five  feet.  No  such  span  had 
been  vaulted  since  the  building  of  the  Pantheon. 
A  public  competition  for  a  dome  was  held  in  which 
Brunelleschi  took  part.  After  long  discussion,  for 
Florence  was  "  a  city  where  every  one  speaks  his 
mind,''  and  after  much  consideration,  Brunelleschi 
was  chosen  architect.  His  great  dome,  though  no 
copy  of  Roman  forms,  was  thoroughly  classic  in  its 
simplicity  and  its  spirit,  and  is  the  great  achieve- 
ment of  the  Early  Renaissance  in  architecture. 

Brunelleschi  and  his  fellow  architects,  no  doubt, 
wished  to  revive  the  old  Roman  art,  and  did  so  as 
far  as  they  could,  but  their  problems  were  new  and 
their  models  few,  so  they  were  forced,  in  the  main, 
to  follow  their  own  principles  of  construction  and 
limit  their  use  of  Roman  tonus  to  ornament  and 
detail.    Other   famous    men    seconded    Brunelleschi  j 

and  Florentine,  or  at  Least  Tuscan,  architects  Bpread 

the  ideas  of  the  new  art.    To  them  is  really  due  the 

foundation    of    the    various    schools    of     Renaissance 

architecture  which  Bprang  up  in  .Milan.  Venice,  Pa- 
via.  Bologna,  Rimini,  Brescia,  Siena.  Lucca.  Peru- 
gia, and  in  almost  even   <it\   of  Northern   Italy. 

In  sculpture,  the  puissanl  Donatello  (1386-1466) 


238         A   SHORT   HISTORY  OF  ITALY 

is  the  greatest  figure.  It  has  been  said,  that  Michel- 
angelo's soul  first  worked  in  Donatello's  body  or 
that  Donatello's  soul  lived  again  in  Michelangelo. 
Donatello  was  a  realist ;  he  shows  classic  influence 
at  times,  in  technique  and  in  sundry  bits  of  detail, 
but  his  instinct  was  to  imitate  what  he  could  see  and 
touch.  His  vigour,  his  energy  and  variety  produced 
a  profound  effect  on  sculpture  and  also  on  painting. 
His  earlier  works  were  statues  for  the  outside  of  the 
Campanile  and  of  the  church  of  Orsanmichele,  of 
which  the  most  famous  are  that  known  as  Zuccone, 
Baldhead,  and  the  splendid  St.  George.  After- 
wards he  modelled  a  young  David,  the  first  nude 
bronze  since  the  Romans,  and  the  statue  of  Gatta- 
melata  at  Padua,  the  first  equestrian  statue  since 
that  of  Marcus  Aurelius  in  Rome.  The  spectator 
who  examines  the  collection  of  Donatello's  works 
in  the  Bargello  is  chiefly  struck  by  his  intellectual 
power,  and  by  the  immense  variety  of  his  style, 
from  the  simple  outline  of  the  lovely  St.  Cecilia  in 
low  relief,  to  the  passionate  dramas  carved  in  altars 
and  pulpits. 

Donatello  was  a  great  friend  of  Brunelleschi,  and 
Vasari  tells  this  anecdote  about  them.  Donatello 
modelled  a  Crucifix  for  Santa  Croce,  and  thinking 
he  had  done  something  unusually  good,  asked  Bru- 
nelleschi what  he  thought  of  it.  Brunelleschi,  with 
his  unswerving  artistic  rectitude,  answered  that  Dona- 
tello had  put  a  peasant  on  the  cross,  and  not  Jesus 
Christ.  Donatello,  piqued  more  than  he  had  antici- 
pated, said  :  "  If  it  were  as  easy  to  model  as  it  is  to 
criticise,  my  Christ  would  seem  to  you  a  Christ  and 


THE    EARLY    RENAISSANCE  239 

not  a  peasant ;  but  let 's  see  you  take  a  piece  of 
wood  and  go  and  make  one."  Brunelleschi  did  so 
secretly,  and  when  he  had  at  last  finished  his  Cruci- 
fix, asked  Donatello  to  come  home  and  dine  with 
him.  Tlu-y  walked  to  Brunelleschi's  house  tog-ether. 
stopping  at  the  market  to  buy  eggs,  cheese,  and 
other  things  for  the  dinner.  Then  Brunelleschi 
said,  "  Donatello,  you  take  these  things  and  go  to 
my  lion.se,  and  I  will  come  after  in  a  minute  or  two." 
So  Donatello  caught  them  up  in  his  apron,  went 
to  Brunelleschi's,  opened  the  door,  and  saw  the 
Crucifix.  He  was  so  dumbfounded  that  he  dropped 
the  dinner  on  the  floor,  and  when  Brunelleschi, 
coming  in,  said,  "  Why,  Donatello,  what  shall  we 
have  for  dinner?"  Donatello  answered,  "For  my 
part  I  have  had  my  share  to-day.  If  you  want 
yours,  pick  it  up.  No  more  of  that.  It  is  my  lot  to 
model  peasants,  and  yours  to  model  Christs." 

Donatello  was  also  a  great  friend  of  Cosimo's, 
inn. Idled  many  thin--  for  him,  and  inspired  Cosimo 
with  a  taste  tor  collecting  antiques.  He  loved  Co- 
simo BO  much  that  lie  did  whatever  he  wanted,  except 
when  it  interfered  with  his  personal  idiosyncrasies. 
One  day  Cosimo  gave  Donatello.  who  used  to  go 
about  in  his  workman's  blouse,  a  cloak  and  a  line  suit 
of  clothes,  the  Costume  of  a  gentleman.  Donatello 
wore  them  for  a  day  or  two.  and  then  said  he  could 
not    wear   them,   they    Were    too    fashiona  hie.      lie   was 

buried, al  hi-  own  request,  near  ( losimo,  in  the  church 
of  San  Lorenzo,  which  Brunelleschi  had  designed, 

and  he  had  adorned  with  his  sculpture. 

Donatello    worked    in    Venice,    Mantua,    Moden.i. 


240         A    SHORT   HISTORY  OF   ITALY 

Fcnaia,  ami  Prato,  spent  several  years  in  Siena,  and 
nine  in  Padua,  and  introduced  the  Renaissance  into 
the  sculpture  of  Northern  Italy.  He  was  a  man  of 
strong  character  and  poetic  spirit,  striving  in  his 
statues  to  be  true  to  nature  and  to  the  beautiful,  to 
mingle  pagan  and  Christian  notions,  tradition,  and 
freedom.  He  and  his  pupils  affected  the  whole 
plastic  art  of  Italy. 

In  painting,  Masaccio  (1401-28)  stands  con- 
spicuous, even  among  many  painters  of  rare  gifts. 
Modern  critics  call  him  Giotto  reincarnate.  Masaccio 
is  an  unflattering  nickname  for  Tommaso,  and  re- 
calls the  only  personal  trait  we  know  of  him.  Vasari 
says :  "  He  was  a  most  absent-minded  person  and 
very  casual,  like  a  man  who  has  fixed  his  will  and  his 
whole  mind  on  art  only,  and  cares  little  about  him- 
self and  less  about  others.  He  never  wanted  to 
think  in  any  way  about  the  things  or  the  cares  of 
this  world,  even  of  his  own  clothes,  and  he  never 
went  to  get  the  money  due  him  from  his  debtors 
except  when  he  was  in  extreme  need.  Instead  of 
Thomas,  everybody  called  him  Masaccio  ;  not  be- 
cause he  was  bad,  being  good  nature  itself,  but 
because  of  his  great  absent-mindedness.  Neverthe- 
less, he  was  as  affectionate  in  doing  useful  and 
amiable  acts  for  other  people  as  could  possibly  be 
wished."  This  "  marvellous  boy  "  died  at  the  age 
of  twenty-seven,  but  left  an  ineffaceable  mark  on 
Italian  painting.  Across  the  Arno,  in  the  ugly 
church  of  Santa  Maria  del  Carmine,  is  a  chapel 
on  the  right,  in  which,  mingled  with  the  work  of 
contemporaries  and  continuers,  are  Masaccio's  fres- 


THE   EARLY   RENAISSANCE  241 

coes,  figures  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  John,  of  a  shiv- 
ering boy,  and  a  few  others.  Leonardo  da  Vinci 
said  :  "  After  Giotto,  the  art  of  painting  declined 
again,  because  every  one  imitated  the  pictures  that 
were  already  done  ;  thus  it  went  on  till  Tommaso  of 
Florence,  nicknamed  Masaccio,  showed  by  his  per- 
fect works  how  those  who  take  for  their  standard 
any  one  but  Nature  —  the  mistress  of  all  masters  — 
weary  themselves  in  vain."1  In  that  little  chapel, 
Leonardo,  Michelangelo,  Raphael,  and  scores  of  the 
greatest  painters  of  Italy  have  admired,  studied,  and 
copied. 

Brunelleschi,  Donatello,  Masaccio  are  but  the 
greater  names  in  the  fine  arts.  Well  might  Leon 
Battista  Alberti,  himself  a  great  architect  and  hu- 
manist, on  return  from  exile  to  his  native  city,  say 
to  Brunelleschi :  "  I  have  been  accustomed  both  to 
wonder  and  to  grieve  that  so  many  divine  arts  and 
sciences  which  we  see  to  have  abounded  in  those 
most  highly  endowed  ancients  were  now  Lacking  and 
utterly  lost  .  r  .  but  since  I  have  been  restored  to 
this  our  native  land  that  surpasseth  all  others  in  her 
adornment,  I  have  recognized  in  many  bul  chiefly 
in  thee.  I'lnlip  [Brunelleschi],  and  in  our  near  friend 

Donato  [  I  kmatello]  the  Bcnlptor,  ami  in  those  others, 
Nencio  [Ghiberti],  and  Luca  [della  Robbia],  and 
Ida  iccio,  genius  capable  for  ever}  praiseworthy 
work,  not  inferior  to  that  of  anyancienl  and  famous 
master  in  the  arl 

1  Leonardo  da  Vinci,  EUohter. 

*  Church  Building  t  .'     He  Ayes,  V.  I.   Norton,  p.  280. 


CHAPTER   XXV 

THE    RENAISSANCE   (1450-1492) 

The  last  chapter  confined  itself  to  the  fine  arts  and 
omitted  the  main  element,  humanism,  which  gave 
volume  and  impetus  to  the  stream,  and,  though  not 
memorable  for  conspicuous  achievements  as  the  fine 
arts  were,  flowed  more  directly  from  the  classic  im- 
pulse and  produced  the  greatest  immediate  effect. 
The  humanists  played  a  part  analogous  to  that 
which  men  of  science  play  in  our  own  time  ;  they  de- 
voted themselves  heart  and  soul  to  the  classics,  as 
men  of  science  do  to  Nature.  For  some  time  they 
had  had  access  to  the  Latin  past  through  Italy,  and 
now  they  also  found  their  way  to  the  far  greater 
classic  world  of  Greece.  The  one  uninterrupted  com- 
munication with  that  world  was  through  Constanti- 
nople, which,  like  a  long,  ill-lighted  and  ill-repaired 
corridor,  led  back  to  the  great  pleasure  domes  of 
Plato  and  Homer,  and  all  the  wonderland  of  Greek 
literature  and  thought.  Aristotle,  indeed,  had  come 
by  way  of  the  Arabs,  and  had  long  been  a  lay  Bible, 
but  for  the  other  Greek  classics  the  rising  humanism 
of  Italy  was  indebted  to  Constantinople.  The  glow- 
ing young  city  of  Florence  lit  its  torch  at  the  ex- 
piring embers  of  the  imperial  city.  A  few  Italians 
went  to  Constantinople  and  learned  Greek,  then 
stray  Byzantines  came  to  Italy.    The  doom  which 


THE    RENAISSANCE  24:>, 

hung  over  Constantinople  frightened  scholars  and 
drove  them  westward,  and  the  fall  itself  (1453)  dis- 
persed the  last  of  them.  These  Greeks  brought  in- 
valuable manuscripts  and  firmly  established  Hellenic 
culture  in  the  kindred  soil  of  Tuscany.  In  the  list 
of  books  in  Cosimo's  library,  there  was  no  mention 
of  any  Greek  classic  except  Aristotle;  but  after  the 
immigration  of  Greek  scholars  all  intellectual  Flor- 
ence went  mad  over  Plato,  and  Cosimo  founded  a 
Platonic  Academy.  The  study  of  Greek  brought 
with  it  examination,  comparison,  criticism  ;  it  brought 
new  knowledge  ;  it  gave  new  ideas  to  all  the  arts,  new 
impulses  to  the  creative  imagination,  and  general 
intellectual  freedom.  Interest  in  the  humanities  be- 
came so  widespread  throughout  the  peninsula  that 
we  get  a  feeling  of  Italian  unity  stronger  than  any 
we  have  experienced  since  the  days  of  Theodoric. 

The  importance  of  the  humanists,  however,  was 
merely  as  an  intellectual  leaven.  They  need  not  be 
spoken  of  apart  from  the  general  intellectual  move- 
ment which  expressed  itself  so  much  more  fully  and 
freely  in  art  than  in  any  other  way.  That  movement 
kindled  enthusiasm  from  Lombardy  to  Calabria;  and 
Florence  still  maintained  her  primacy.  All  the  other 
cities  of  Italy  lagged  far  behind  her.  We  must  there- 
fore keep  Florence  as  our  paradigm,  only  remember- 
ing that  at  her  heels  a  score  of  cities  toil  and  pant  in 
artistic  eagerness  to  make  themselves  as  beautiful 
and  famous  as  Florence. 

There  Cosimo,  Pater  Patria,  had  died  in  fulness 
of  years  and  wbb  Bucceeded  by  his  grandson.  Lorenzo 
the  Magnificent,  though  not  immediately,  for  there 


244         A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

uas  a  short-lived  Piero  in  between.  Lorenzo  took  his 
grandfather's  place,  became  lord  of  Florence  in  all 
but  name,  and  stood  the  centre  of  a  brilliant  group 
of  artists,  sculptors,  poets,  and  scholars.  His  reign, 
for  it  must  be  so  called,  lasted  from  14G9  to  1492, 
a  most  notable  span  of  time.  The  mere  names  of  the 
famous  Florentines  would  fill  pages.  A  few  must  be 
mentioned :  Benedetto  da  Maiano,  sculptor  and  archi- 
tect, who  carved  the  beautiful  pulpit  in  Santa  Croce, 
and  drew  the  designs  for  the  palace-fortress  of  the 
Strozzi  ;  Giuliano  da  San  Gallo,  sculptor  and  archi- 
tect, who  made  the  plans  for  Lorenzo's  villa  at  Poggio 
a  Caiano ;  Andrea  della  Robbia,  nephew  to  Luca,  and 
almost  his  equal  in  the  tender  charm  of  his  blue  and 
white  Madonnas ;  Mino  da  Fiesole,  who  made  a  bust  of 
Lorenzo's  father,  and  carved  in  marble  the  sweetness 
of  young  mothers;  Antonio  Rossellino,  who  wrought 
the  famous  tomb  for  a  great  Portuguese  prelate  in 
the  church  of  San  Miniato;  Andrea  Verrocchio,  who 
painted  the  Uffizi  Annunciation,  so  beautiful  that  it 
was  long  attributed  to  Leonardo,  modelled  the  lady 
dalle  belle  menu  in  the  Bargello,  and  the  Colleoni 
at  Venice,  greatest  of  equestrian  statues  ;  Benozzo 
Gozzoli,  who  painted  the  three  generations  of  Me- 
dici in  the  Riccardi  palace,  and  in  the  Campo  Santo 
at  Pisa  the  enchanting  frescoes  which  turn  the  Old 
Testament  into  a  kind  of  Arabian  Nights  ;  An- 
tonio Pollaiuolo,  sculptor  and  painter,  a  leader  in 
the  new  school  of  realism,  and  notable  for  the  feel- 
ing of  movement  which  he  conveys  ;  Filippino  Lippi, 
Lippo  Lippi's  son,  who  completed  the  frescoes  in 
the  chapel  in  Santa  Maria  del  Carmine  left   unfin- 


THE  RENAISSANCE  245 

ished  by  Masaccio  ;  Botticelli,  the  greatest  of  all 
the  Florentine  painters,  except  Leonardo  and  Mi- 
chelangelo ;  Domenico  Ghirlandaio,  whose  frescoes 
in  Santa  Maria  Novella  tell  us  more  about  those 
shrewd,  capable,  quick-witted  Florentines  than  any 
historian  ;  Pulci,  the  poet,  who  wrote  "  Morgante 
Maggiore,"  a  gay  epic,  which  Savonarola  thought 
ought  to  be  burned  ;  Poliziano,  great  embodiment  of 
culture,  who  wrote  the  first  lyrical  tragedy,  and  led 
the  way  towards  the  opera ;  Marsilio  Ficino,  the 
philosopher  who  helped  Cosimo  found  the  Pla- 
tonic Academy  ;  Pico  della  Mirandola,  the  charming 
scholar,  whom  Machiavelli  called  "  a  man  almost 
divine." 

Perhaps  none  of  these  men  were  equal  to  the  lead- 
ers in  the  group  which  surrounded  Cosimo,  but  they 
are  more  interesting  to  us,  and  touch  our  sympathy 
more  readily.  They  are  nearer  to  us.  The  earlier 
problems  in  architecture,  sculpture,  and  painting 
were  more  difficult,  but  they  had  been  successfully 
solved;  and  the  fresh  problems,  which  confronted 
the  younger  generation,  though  less  adventurous, 
were  more  refined.  The  sons  have  entered  into  a 
hard-earned  inheritance,  and  live  more  freely.  They 
have  more  spiritual  alertness  than  their  fathers 
though  less  rigour,  more  sensitiveness  to  passing 
moods  though  less  robustness,  greater  mastery  of 
technique  though  less  genius  Cor  principles.  Less 
great  themselves,  they  have  created  greater  works. 
Benedetto's   Palazzo  Strozzi   is  more  majestic  and 

splendid  than  ftficheloZZo's  Palazzo  Kiceardi;  Yeinx- 
ohio's  statue  of  Colleoni  surpasses  Donatello's  (Jatta- 


240         A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

melata  ;  Botticelli's  poetry  is  more  interesting,  at 
least  to  the  unlearned,  than  Masaccio's  puissant 
thawing.  Nevertheless,  the  greater  intimacy  of  sym- 
pathy and  interest  which  we  feel  for  the  later  men 
is  not  accounted  for  by  their  greater  command  of 
their  crafts.  There  is  some  new  element  less  readily 
discovered.  We  perceive  a  change  of  attitude  toward 
life,  a  new  conception  of  human  existence.  The 
readiest  explanation  and  perhaps  the  best,  if  we  do 
not  treat  it  as  completely  adequate,  lies  in  the  new 
Greek  thought  (or  rather  Greek  thought  as  the 
Florentines  understood  it),  which  the  humanists  con- 
tributed to  Italian  culture  ;  and  indeed  not  so  much 
in  Greek  thought  itself,  as  in  the  impulse  it  gave  to 
a  subtler  and  more  complicated  conception  of  life. 

Direct  Greek  influence  is  most  conspicuous  in 
Botticelli.  This  rare  spirit  wandered  about  half  in 
the  world  of  reality  which  he  ill  understood  and 
depicted  badly,  and  half  in  a  world  of  fantasy  which 
he  knew  better  than  any  other  painter.  The  secret 
of  this  world  of  fantasy,  as  he  discovered,  was  mo- 
tion. If  a  vision  tarries,  it  becomes  touched  by  the 
blight  of  familiarity,  soiled  by  the  comradeship  of 
life.  The  fairy  spirit  of  imagination  must  be  ever  on 
the  wing.  No  artist  ever  let  Sweet  Fancy  loose  as 
Botticelli  did  in  his  two  great  pictures,  The  Prima- 
vera  (Spring)  and  The  Birth  of  Venus.  In  them 
this  Greek  influence  finds  its  fullest  direct  expres- 
sion. The  glory  of  dawn,  the  first  unveiled  fresh 
beauty  of  the  world,  which  the  Greeks  saw,  Botti- 
celli saw  also.  But  besides  the  childlike  joy  in  pure 
beauty  is  another,  more  complicated,  element.    Into 


THE    RENAISSANCE  247 

the  rapturous  Greek  world,  beautiful  with  sensuous 
charm,  the  bewildering  idea  of  a  mora]  order  pre- 
sents itself.  On  the  countenance  of  Venus  and  in 
the  figure  o£  Primavera  there  is  a  wistf  ulness,  as  if 
they  had  a  presentiment  that  they  must  leave  the 
rose-strewn  ocean  and  the  magic  wood  in  which 
they  found  themselves.  The  consequence  is  a  sad- 
ness as  of  beholding  an  antagonism  between  two 
beautiful  things. 

The  subtler  and  more  complicated  conception  of 
life  is  best  expressed  by  Verrocchio,  the  other  mas- 
ter spirit  of  this  generation,  who  displays  in  his  paint- 
ings and  statues  the  joy  he  takes  in  pure  beauty,  but 
always  adds  some  other  element.  The  little  boy  who 
hugs  a  dolphin  in  the  court  of  the  Palazzo  Vecchio 
is  the  incarnation  of  the  grace  and  happiness  of 
childhood,  but  he  has  an  impish,  Puck-like  expres- 
sion. The  young  bronze  David,  who  has  just  con- 
quered Goliath,  has  an  odd,  mischievous  sprightliness. 
Both  statues  intimate  a  sceptical  attitude  towards 
the  fine  seriousness  of  life  which  had  marked  Puritan 
Florence  of  the  older  days.  His  painting  of  the 
Annunciation  shows  a  magic  background,  beautiful 
and  mystical,  with  enchanted  cities,  rivers,  moun- 
tains, like  tie-  part  of  Xanadfi  where  KuUa  Khan 
decreed  his  pleasure  dome,  or  the  strange  land  where 
La  belle  Dame  Bans  Aferci  left  her  knight-at-arma 
alone  and  palely  loitering.    Subtle   thoughts   play 

over  his  statues  and  paintings,  and  he  taught  his 
pupil  Leonardo  that  Btrange  and  beautiful  fascina- 
tion of  Eace  which  expresses  one  know-,  n..t   wh.it. 

The  earlier  simplicity  of  the  (jiinHrmu  nh>  has  passed, 


248         A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

the  artist's  attitude  to  life  has  become  complicated, 
although  the  love  of  beauty  for  beauty's  sake  remains 
abundantly. 

The  lord  of  Florence,  Lorenzo  the  Magnificent,  the 
centre  and  patron  of  this  glittering  ring,  is  the  best 
exponent  of  the  late  quattrocento  taken  as  a  whole. 
He  touched  life  on  every  side,  public  and  private, 
intellectual  and  frivolous,  religious  and  cynical,  artis- 
tic, literary,  philosophical.  Lorenzo  had  a  strik- 
ing, indeed  a  fascinating,  personality.  His  figure 
was  strong  and  lithe,  and  his  face  among  a  thou- 
sand caught  the  eye.  His  big  jaws,  under  his  lean, 
furrowed  cheeks,  were  square  and  grim.  His  long 
irregular  nose  and  curving  lips  gave  him  a  some- 
what sardonic  expression,  but  his  broad  forehead 
was  grave  and  thoughtful,  and  "  princely  counsel  " 
shone  in  his  face.  His  whole  aspect  was  full  of  char- 
acter and  dignity.  Every  one  felt  his  fascination. 
He  was  a  poet  and  wrote  poems  of  many  kinds,  grave 
and  gay,  some  of  which  are  of  acknowledged  merit : 

Quant'e  bella  giovinezza 
Che  si  fugge  tuttavia, 
Chi  vuol  essere  lieto,  sia, 
Di  doman  non  v'e  certezza.1 

He  was  a  scholar,  and  full  of  the  fashionable  ad- 
miration for  Plato,  though  he  probably  shared  the 
current  confusion  between  Plato's  own  thoughts 
and  those  of  the  Alexandrian  Neoplatonists.  He 
was  a  statesman  of  foresight  and  shrewdness,  and 

1  Oh,  how  beautiful  is  youth 
Ever  hurrying  away, 
Come,  let  him  who  will  be  gay, 
In  to-morrow  there  's  no  truth. 


THE   RENAISSANCE  249 

contributed  more  than  any  one  else  to  preserve  the 
peace  of  Italy,  by  maintaining  the  balance  of  power 
among  the  greater  states.  He  was  also  a  very  charm- 
ing person,  and  endeavoured  to  make  life  in  Flor- 
ence a  happy  mixture  of  mirth  and  intellectual 
pleasure;  and  it  must  be  remembered  in  apprecia- 
tion of  the  general  sobriety  of  his  life,  that  a  gifted 
company  of  men  did  all  they  could  to  spoil  him. 

Lorenzo  was  the  most  remarkable  prince  of  the 
quattrocento,  but  there  were  many  others  who  pa- 
tronized scholars  and  artists  as  generously  as  he. 
Alfonso  of  Aragon,  the  king  who  temporarily  united 
the  Two  Sicilies,  was  devoted  to  the  humanities.  He 
was  wont  to  hear  Terence  and  Virgil  read  aloud  at 
dinner,  and  took  Livy  with  him  on  his  campaigns. 
But  Naples  and  Sicily  had  almost  no  share  in  the 
achievements  and  glory  of  the  Italian  Renaissance. 
Lawless,  ignorant,  poor,  unsuccessful,  they  responded 
feebly  to  the  efforts  of  individuals,  who,  here  and 
there,  strove  to  emulate  the  great  Florentines.  But 
in  the  North  all  the  world  was  mad  for  art,  and 
its  princes  led  the  fashion.  Federigo  da  Montet'el- 
fcrOj  Duke  of  Urbino  ( 142'2-1  1S2i,  was  the  foremost 
Bcholai  among  soldiers  and  the  foremost  soldier 
among  scholars ;  be  gathered  together  a  noble  library, 
now  lodged  in  the  Vatican  ;  be  built  a  palace,  un- 
matched in  Italy-,  and  collected  about  him  artists  of 
all  kinds.  Yet  Federigo  vraa  a  soldier  by  nature  as 
well  as  by  prof ession,  as  one  may  see  from  the  great 
portrait  of  him  in  the  llli/.i,  painted  by  Piero  della 
Branceaca.  11^  itrong  profile,  with  firm  mouth  and 
big,  broken,  aquiline  nose,  testifies  Ear  more  Forcibly 


250        A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

to  his  character  as  a  warrior  than  as  a  virtuoso.  His 
near  neighbour,  the  tyrant  of  Pesaro  (a  little  city  by 
the  Adriatic  coast),  Alessandro  Sforza,  passed  the 
intervals  between  his  battles  in  buying  books.  Duke 
Ercole  of  Ferrara  was  likewise  a  patron  of  art,  and 
adorned  his  capital  as  well  as  his  palaces  and  villas 
with  all  sorts  of  beautiful  things.  The  dukes  of 
Milan  were  somewhat  eclipsed,  but  only  for  a  time, 
by  their  less  powerful  rivals  of  Ferrara  and  Urbino. 
The  old  ducal  line  of  the,  Visconti  had  died  out  with 
Filippo  Maria,  and  Francesco  Sforza  (husband  of 
Filippo's  daughter),  who  succeeded  to  the  duchy 
(1450),  was  busy  making  good  his  very  defective 
title,  and  had  little  time  to  attend  to  art  or  letters. 
Even  he  kept  humanists  in  his  pay,  and  continued 
work  on  the  glorious  Certosa  of  Pavia. 

Not  only  princes  but  private  citizens  were  lovers 
and  patrons  of  art.  In  almost  every  city  of  the  North 
—  excepting  Piedmont  —  there  was  some  artist  of 
whom  the  whole  city  was  proud.  Nevertheless, 
throughout  the  reign  of  Lorenzo  the  Magnificent 
Florence  continued  to  be  the  most  intellectual  of 
Italian  cities,  as  she  had  been  for  many  genera- 
tions ;  but  on  Lorenzo's  death  the  primacy  in  the 
arts  and  in  matters  of  the  mind  passed  from  Flor- 
ence to  Rome.  By  a  flattering  chance  that  primacy 
seemed  to  follow  the  fortunes  of  a  single  family. 
Under  Cosimo,  Piero,  and  Lorenzo  dei  Medici,  the 
Renaissance  may  be  said  to  have  made  Florence  its 
home  ;  in  the  later  period  it  found  its  fullest  expres- 
sion in  Rome,  and  even  there  took  its  name,  the  Age 
of  Leo,  from  another  Medici,  Lorenzo's  sou.    It  was 


THE   RENAISSANCE  251 

not  to  Pope  Leo,  however,  but  to  his  predecessors, 
that  Rome  was  indebted  for  preeminence.  At  the 
summons  of  the  Papacy  men  of  genius  went  to 
Rome  from  all  Italy,  but  chiefly  from  Florence  ; 
and  a  distinguished  Tuscan,  almost  a  Florentine,  who 
went  from  Florence  to  Rome  at  the  culmination  of  a 
brilliant  career,  fairly  serves  as  the  personification  of 
this  intellectual  migration.  Tommaso  Parentucelli, 
who  was  born  in  a  little  town  near  Lucca,  was  educated 
in  Florence  and  Bologna.  He  took  holy  orders  early, 
and,  going"  back  to  Florence,  quickly  became  intimate 
with  the  clever  set  of  humanists  who  surrounded 
Cosimo.  He  was  a  great  student,  and  won  so  high 
a  reputation  for  learning  that  it  was  to  him  Cosimo 
applied  for  advice,  when  he  wanted  the  right  books 
for  the  library  at  Fiesole.  This  collection  became 
famous  and  was  copied  both  at  Rimini  and  l' rhino. 
Parentucelli  was  a  very  capable  and  attractive  man. 
and  embodied  in  its  best  form  the  essence  of  Flor- 
entine humanistic  culture.  His  character,  talents, 
and  accomplishments  were  recognized  in  the  ( Ihurch  ; 
he  became  bishop,  cardinal,  and  finally  Pope,  as 
Nicholas  V  (1447-55). 

At  Rome  Nicholas  showed  the  well-marked  char- 
acteristics of  the  Renaissance,  lie  fostered  learning, 
art,  ami  general  culture,  not  only  because  of  his  in- 
terest in  them,  hut   because  In-  thought   that   by  their 

means  he  could  overcome  that  rumbling  .spirit  of 
reform,  which  was  making  trouble  in  Bohemia  ami 
Germany, and  thai  by  giving  tin-  reformers  intellec- 
tual interests  he  could  occupj  thru-  minds  ami  quell 
their  discontent.    He  entertained  lofty  imaginings 


252        A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

of  a  Papacy,  resting  on  learning  and  culture,  housed 
in  a  nonpareil  city,  which  should  be  the  acknow- 
ledged and  admired  head  of  Christendom.  He  gath- 
ered together  scholars  of  all  kinds,  collected  a  library 
of  five  thousand  volumes,  and  founded  the  Vatican 
library.  He  rebuilt  or  restored  numerous  churches 
and  other  buildings  in  Rome,  he  began  the  new  Vat- 
ican palace,  and  planned  a  new  cathedral  in  place 
of  the  old  basilica  of  St.  Peter's,  to  be  the  greatest 
church  in  Christendom.  He  brought  to  Rome  archi- 
tects, painters,  goldsmiths,  artists,  and  artisans  of  all 
sorts.  With  him  began  the  brilliant  period  of  the 
Papacy  as  a  secular  power  devoted  to  art  and  cul- 
ture, which  culminated  in  what  is  known  as  the  Age 
of  Leo  X. 


CHAPTER   XXVI 

THE  BARBARIAN   INVASIONS   (1404-1537) 

We  must  now  leave  the  great  intellectual  progress  of 
the  Renaissance  on  its  way  from  its  home  in  Florence 
to  its  culmination  in  Rome,  and  look  over  the  politi- 
cal condition  of  the  principal  divisions  of  Italy.  A 
complete  change  comes  during  this  period,  that  can 
only  be  likened  to  the  change  wrought  by  the  inva- 
sions of  the  Barbarians  in  ancient  times.  In  fact,  it 
is  a  period  of  fresh  invasions  by  Barbarians,  as  the 
Italians,  and  not  without  some  justice,  still  called 
foreigners.  The  year  1494  was  the  fatal  date  of  the 
first  invasion  of  the  French.  From  that  year  onward 
there  was  a  series  of  invasions  of  French,  Austrians, 
and  Spaniards,  until  Italy  was  finally  parcelled  out 
according  to  the  pleasure  of  the  invaders.  Before 
that  time  Italy  was  in  a  peaceful  and  prosperous 
condition.  The  famous  Florentine  historian  Guic- 
ciardini  (1483-1540)  thus  records  the  time  of  his 
boyhood:  "Since  the  fall  of  the  Roman  Empire 
Italy  had    never   known    such    great    prosperity,  nor 

had  experienced  bo  desirable  a  condition  as  in  the 
vear  1  L90and  the  years  just  before  and  after.  The 
country  had  been  brought  to  profound  peace  and 
tranquillity,  agriculture  spread  over  the  roughest 
and  most  Bterile  bills  no  less  than  over  the  most  fer- 
tile plains,  and  Italv,  subject  to  no  dominion  but  her 


254         A   SIIOKT   HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

own,  abounded  in  men,  merchandise,  and  wealth.  She 
was  embellished  to  the  utmost  by  the  magnificence 
of  many  princes,  by  the  splendour  of  many  most 
noble  and  beautiful  cities,  by  the  seat  and  majesty 
of  Religion  ;  she  was  rich  in  men  most  apt  in  public 
affairs,  and  in  minds  most  noble  for  all  sorts  of  know- 
ledge. She  was  industrious  and  excellent  in  every 
art,  and,  according  to  the  standard  of  those  days, 
not  without  military  glory." 

In  these  happy  years,  and  in  the  decades  that  pre- 
ceded them,  Italian  politics  was  a  domestic  game 
between  the  five  principal  powers,  Papacy,  Naples, 
Florence,  Venice,  and  Milan,  who  treated  one  an- 
other's border  cities  as  stakes.  They  made  leagues 
and  counter-leagues,  waged  innumerable  little  wars, 
fought  bloodless  skirmishes,  flourished  their  swords, 
blew  their  trumpets,  and  made  a  good  deal  of  com- 
motion ;  but  they  were  all  Italians,  they  all  knew 
the  rules  of  the  game,  however  irregular  and  com- 
plicated those  rules  might  appear  to  an  outsider,  and 
if  there  were  bloody  heads,  they  were  all  in  the  fam- 
ily. With  1494  came  the  change.  History  seemed 
to  turn  back  a  thousand  years  ;  the  French  poured 
over  the  Alps  from  the  northwest,  the  Imperial 
soldiers  of  the  House  of  Hapsburg  from  the  north- 
east, and  the  Spaniards  from  their  province  of  Sicily 
to  the  south. 

Milan,  U66-1535 

Our  chronicle  had  better  begin  with  the  duchy 

of  Milan.    There,  on  the  death  of  Francesco  Sforza 

(1406),  his  son,  Galeazzo  Maria,  succeeded  to  the 


THE   BARBARIAN   INVASIONS  255 

throne.  This  duke  was  a  typical  Italian  ruler,  bril- 
liant in  display,  liberal  in  giving,  harsh  in  taxing, 
interested  in  art  and  scholarship,  crafty  and  cruel 
in  politics,  and  shamelessly  dissolute  in  private  life. 
Fearful  stories  of  his  brutality  are  told.  He  was  lit- 
erally insufferable,  and  was  assassinated  (1476).  It 
is  interesting  to  see  the  great  classical  influence, 
which  stimulated  the  arts  and  the  humanities,  quick- 
ening the  spirits  of  young  men  and  giving  an  antique 
lustre  to  murder.  The  story  goes  that  a  schoolmaster 
of  Milan,  who  had  drilled  his  boys  in  Plutarch,  till 
Plutarch's  world  seemed  to  live  again,  burst  out  in 
his  lecture,  "  Will  none  among  my  pupils  rise  up  like 
Brutus  and  Cassius  to  free  his  country  from  this 
vile  yoke  and  merit  eternal  renown?"  Three  of  his 
pupils,  stimulated  by  private  wrongs  to  emulate  the 
classical  example,  murdered  the  duke  in  a  church. 
All  three  were  put  to  death.  The  last  to  die  was 
skewered  on  iron  hooks  and  cut  to  pieces  alive.  "I 
know,"  he  said,  "that  for  my  wrongdoings  I  have 
deserved  these  tortures  and  more  besides,  could  my 
poor  flesh  endure  them  ;  but  as  for  the  noble  act 
for  which  I  die,  that  comforts  my  soul.  Instead  of 
repenting  it,  were  I  to  live  my  lib1  ten  times  again, 
ten  times  again  to  perish  in  these  tortures.  Done  the 
trould  I  consecrate  all  my  life's  blood,  and  all 
inv  might,  to  that  ooble  purpo 

The  results  of  the  murder  were  unimportant.  In 
politics,  even  more  than  in  the  arts,  the  classic  im- 
pulse only  affected  details.  Lodovico  Sforza,  nick- 
named il  Morn,  the  late  duke's  brother.  Beized  the 

government    and    Supplanted    the    lawful    heir,    his 


256         A   SHORT   HISTORY  OF   ITALY 

young  nephew,  in  every  ducal  prerogative  except 
the  title.  Lodovico  was  a  brilliant,  intellectual  man, 
devoid  of  moral  sense;  and  for  a  time  flourished  in 
the  full  sunshine  of  the  opening  High  Renaissance. 
He  patronized  Bramante,  he  employed  familiarly 
Leonardo  da  Vinci.  But  his  political  talents  were 
suited  to  the  earlier  period  of  domestic  Italian  poli- 
tics. Had  he  lived  then,  his  abilities,  inherited  from 
both  the  Sforzas  and  Visconti,  would  have  kept  him 
secure  on  his  ducal  throne ;  but  he  did  not  under- 
stand the  larger  forces  of  European  politics. 

Milan  being  at  odds  with  Naples,  and  the  other 
Italian  powers  as  usual  either  taking  part,  or  biding 
a  more  favourable  time,  Lodovico  Sforza  thought  it 
would  be  a  brilliant  play,  in  the  little  Italian  game, 
to  use  a  foreign  piece  to  checkmate  Naples.  He  in- 
vited the  French  king,  Charles  VIII,  who  repre- 
sented the  claims  of  the  House  of  Anjou  to  the 
Neapolitan  crown,  to  come  into  Italy  and  take  pos- 
session of  his  own.  Other  Italian  politicians,  with 
no  more  knowledge  of  European  politics  than  Lodo- 
vico, joined  in  the  petition.  Charles  VIII,  an  ugly 
little  man,  of  scant  intelligence,  strong  in  a  compact 
and  vigorous  kingdom,  believing  that  he  could  play 
the  part  of  a  Charlemagne,  accepted  the  suggestion 
with  alacrity,  got  together  an  admirable  army,  and 
crossed  the  Alps,  in  the  memorable  year  1494.  He 
received  the  respects  of  Lodovico  and  swept  tri- 
umphantly down  through  Italy.  No  resistance  to 
speak  of  was  attempted.  Florence  made  a  treaty 
with  him,  the  Pope  was  delighted  to  be  able  to  do 
the  like,  and  Naples  watched  her  king  run  away 


THE   BARBARIAN   INVASIONS  257 

and  the  French  march  in,  with  blended  indifference 
and  pleasure.  This  brilliant  success,  however,  was  a 
mere  blaze  of  straw.  The  powers  of  Europe  took 
alarm,  and  while  the  puny  Charles  was  rioting  in 
Naples,  made  a  league,  in  which  Venice,  the  Pope, 
and  the  double-dealing  Sforza  joined.  Charles  hur- 
ried north  as  fast  as  he  could,  and  barely  escaped 
across  the  Alps.  But  the  episode  was  full  of  portent 
for  Italy.  The  Barbarians  had  once  again  broken 
through  the  barrier  which  nature  had  set  up  to 
protect  Italy ;  they  had  rediscovered  what  a  delight- 
ful place  Italy  was  ;  and  the  second  period  of  Bar- 
barian invasion  had  begun.  We  cannot  dally  over 
Milan.  Sforza's  treachery  overreached  itself.  The 
succeeding  King  of  France,  Louis  XII,  a  prince  of 
Orleans,  was  a  grandson  of  Gian  Galeazzo  Visconti's 
eldest  daughter,  and  had  as  good  a  legal  title  to  the 
inheritance  of  the  Visconti  as  his  second  cousin  Lo- 
dovico  ;  though  in  strictness  neither  title  had  any 
legal  value.  Revenge  lent  strength  to  Louis's  claim. 
In  a  few  years  (1499),  the  French  again  descended 
into  the  pleasant  plains  of  Lombardy.  captured  Milan, 
took  Sforza  prisoner,  and  locked  him  up  in  a  French 
prison  for  the  rest  of  his  life. 

It  i^  useless  to  follow  the  shifting  ownership  of 
Milan,  tossed  about  in  the  great  Btruggle  between 
Francis  I  of  France  and  the  Emperor  Charles  V. 

The  Empire  espoused  the  cause  of   the  Sforza   heirs 

and  put  them  bach  on  the  tin-one.  Then  France 
rained  the  battle  of  Marignano  |  1515)  and  recovered 
Milan,  hut  the  Empire  conquered  a1  Pavia    L525  . 

and  finally  won.    The  male  line  of  the  Sforzas  became 


258         A   SHORT   HISTORY  OF  ITALY 

extinct  in  L535  ;  and  the  dukedom  of  Milan,  though 
it  continued  to  be  a  nominal  fief  of  the  Empire, 
was  annexed  to  the  Spanish  crown  by  Charles  V 
(who  was  King  of  Spain  as  well  as  Emperor),  and 
passed  as  a  part  of  the  Spanish  inheritance  to  a  line 
of  Spanish  kings.  The  Barbarian  occupation  of 
Milan  was  destined  to  last  for  three  hundred  years. 

Florence,  U92-1537 

Now  that  we  have  followed  Milan  into  the  service 
of  Spanish  masters,  we  must  do  a  somewhat  similar 
office  for  Florence.  But  Florence's  liberty  was  put 
out  in  glory.  The  politic  statesman,  Lorenzo  dei 
Medici,  whose  sagacity  had  contributed  so  much  to 
the  pleasant  state  of  Italy  prior  to  the  French  inva- 
sion, died  in  1492.  The  great  period  of  Florentine 
intellectual  primacy  ended  with  him,  for,  though 
Florence  continued  to  pour  forth  genius,  that  genius 
no  longer  was  "fathered  together  at  home  but  emi- 
grated  to  honour  other  places.  Nevertheless,  she 
again  challenges  our  admiration  ;  the  ancient  re- 
publican city  once  more  asserted  its  preeminence 
by  a  burst  of  moral  enthusiasm.  Nowhere  else  in 
Italy  throughout  the  Renaissance  was  such  a  spec- 
tacle seen,  and  though  the  leader,  Girolamo  Savona- 
rola (1452-98),  was  a  native  of  Ferrara,  yet  it  was 
in  Florence,  and  among  Florentines,  that  he  kindled 
enthusiasm  and  ran  his  brilliant  career.  Savonarola 
was  the  reincarnation  of  a  Hebrew  prophet,  a  Flor- 
entine Habakkuk,  passionately  sure  of  the  moral 
government  of  God,  passionately  convinced  that  the 
wickedness  of  Italy  must  bring  its  own  punishment 


THE   BARBARIAN   INVASIONS  259 

and  purification.  Shortly  before  Lorenzo's  death  he 
became  a  distinguished  preacher,  spoke  in  the  ca- 
thedral, and  won  the  ear  of  the  people.  He  preached 
righteousness  and  judgment  to  come.  He  proclaimed 
spiritual  evils  and  political  punishments,  and  foretold 
that  God  would  stretch  forth  His  hand  and  send  His 
avenger  to  punish  Italy.  The  prophecies  were  so 
definite,  and  fitted  the  invasion  of  Charles  VIII  so 
accurately,  that  Savonarola  was  hailed  as  a  prophet. 
In  the  excitement  over  the  French  invasion  Loren- 
zo's sons  were  driven  out,  the  former  republican 
constitution  reestablished,  and  Savonarola  raised  by 
a  burst  of  popular  enthusiasm  practically  to  the 
position  of  guiding  and  governing  the  city.  The 
best  way  to  understand  Savonarola's  influence  is  to 
read  a  few  extracts  from  the  diary  of  Luca  Lan- 
ducci,  a  Florentine  apothecary  :  — 

"  December  14,  1494.  On  this  day  Fra  Girolamo 
greatly  laboured  in  the  pulpit  that  Florence  should 
adopt  a  good  form  of  government ;  he  has  been 
preaching  in  Santa  Maria  del  Fiore  [the  Duomo] 
every  day,  and  this  day,  Sunday,  he  preached,  and 
he  did  not  want  women  but  men,  and  he  wanted  the 
officers  of  the  city,  and  nobody  stayed  in  the  Palace 
[Palazzo  Vecchio,  the  City  Hall]  except  the  Gon- 
Ealoniere  and  one  other;  all  the  officials  in  Florence 
were  there,  and  he  preached  about  matters  of  slate. 
that  we  ought  to  love  and  fear  God  and  love  the 
common  weal,  and  tli.it  no  man  henceforth  should 
wish  to  hold  lii-  head  high  or  wish  himself  great. 
lb-  alwavs  inclined  to  the  people's  side,  and  insisted 
that  no  blood  should  be  shed,  but  that  punishment 


260         A   SHORT   HISTORY  OF  ITALY 

should  be  made  in  some  other  way;  and  he  preached 
like  this  every  day.   .   .  . 

"  April,  1495.  Fra  Girolamo  preached  and  said 
that  the  Virgin  Mary  had  revealed  to  him  how  the 
city  of  Florence  would  become  richer,  more  glorious, 
and  more  powerful  than  she  had  ever  been,  but  not 
till  after  many  troubles ;  and  he  spoke  all  this  as  if 
he  were  a  prophet,  and  most  of  the  people  believed 
him,  especially  the  better  sort  who  had  no  political 
or  partisan  passions.   .   .   . 

"June  17,  1-495.  The  Frate  nowadays  is  held  in 
such  esteem  and  devotion  in  Florence  that  there  are 
many  men  and  women  who  would  obey  him  impli- 
cit lv,  if  he  should  say  '  walk  into  the  fire.'  Many  be- 
lieve him  to  be  a  prophet,  and  he  said  so  himself.  .  .  . 

"February  16  [1496],  the  Carnival.  Fra  Giro- 
lamo preached  a  few  days  ago  that  the  children, 
instead  of  foolish  pranks,  throwing  stones,  etc., 
should  collect  alms  and  distribute  them  to  the  worthy 
poor;  and,  thanks  to  divine  grace,  such  a  change 
was  wrought,  that  in  place  of  tomfoolery  the  chil- 
dren collected  alms  for  days  beforehand,  [and  to- 
day six  thousand  of  them  or  more,  carrying  olive 
branches  and  singing  hymns,  marched  to  the  Duomo 
where  they  offered  up  their  alms]  so  that  good  sen- 
sible men  wept  from  tenderness  and  said,  *  Truly  this 
new  change  is  the  work  of  God.'  ...  I  have  written 
this  because  it  is  the  fact  and  I  saw  it,  and  I  felt  the 
greatest  happiness  to  have  my  children  among  those 
blessed  innocent  bands.  .   .   . 

"  August  15,  1496.  Fra  Girolamo  preached  in 
Santa  Maria  del  Fiore   [the  Duomo,  where  great 


THE    BARBARIAN   INVASIONS  261 

scaffolds  had  been  erected  which  were  filled  with 
children  singing-],  and  there  was  so  much  holiness 
in  the  church,  and  it  was  so  sweet  to  hear  the  chil- 
dren sing,  above,  below,  and  on  every  side,  singing 
so  simply  and  so  modestly,  that  they  did  not  seem 
like  children.  I  write  this  because  I  was  there  and 
saw  it  and  felt  so  much  spiritual  sweetness.  In  truth 
the  Church  was  full  of  angels." 

The  friar's  political  enemies  were  strong,  and  the 
Pope,  the  very  notable  Borgia,  Alexander  VI,  in 
anger  and  in  fear,  excommunicated  him,  and  bade 
the  Signory  of  Florence  forbid  him  to  preach.  There 
was  great  disturbance  over  this  action,  and  feeling 
ran  to  a  passionate  height.  One  of  Savonarola's 
disciples,  a  foolish  Dominican,  challenged  an  adver- 
sary to  the  ordeal  by  fire;  the  challenge  was  ac- 
cepted, and  on  the  appointed  day  all  Florence,  in 
great  excitement,  flocked  to  the  piazza.  The  Domin- 
ican and  his  adversary  were  there,  and  their  respec- 
tive partisans,  but  nothing  was  done.  One  delay 
followed  another  ;  there  was  nothing  but  hesitancy, 
disagreement  as  to  conditions,  backing  and  rilling. 
The  disappointed  populace  turned  on  Savonarola. 
They  had  believed  him  a  prophet  and  expected  to  see 
a  judgment  of  God.  The  Pope  took  advantage  of 
thi>  resentment, and  demanded  his  trial.  Savonarola 
was  tried,  and  tortured.  During  the  torture  a  con- 
fession was  extorted  Erom  him,  which  was  undoubt- 
edly pieced  out  by  forgery.   Our  apothecary  says:  — 

••  April  1'.'.  1  t98.  The  confession  «>l*  Pra  Girdlamo 
read  before  the  Council  in  the  Greal  Hall,  which 

lie  had   written    with  his  own   hand,  —  he   whom  we 


262        A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

beld  bo  be  a  prophet,  —  and  he  confessed  that  he  was 
not  a  prophet,  and  had  not  received  from  God  the 
things  he  preached,  and  he  confessed  to  many  things 
in  the  course  of  his  preaching  which  were  the  op- 
posite of  what  he  had  given  us  to  understand.  I 
was  there  to  hear  the  confession  read,  and  was  be- 
wildered and  stood  astonished  and  stupefied.  My 
soul  was  in  pain  to  see  such  an  edifice  tumble  to 
earth  because  it  all  rested  on  a  lie.  I  expected 
Florence  to  be  a  new  Jerusalem  from  which  should 
proceed  laws,  glory,  and  the  example  of  a  good  life 
and  to  behold  the  restoration  of  the  Church,  the 
conversion  of  the  infidels,  and  the  comfort  of  good 
men,  and  now  I  behold  the  opposite, — and  I  took  the 
medicine.    In  Thy  will,  0  God,  stand  all  things." 

Savonarola  was  condemned  to  death  for  heresy ; 
he  was  hanged,  his  body  burned,  and  his  ashes  flung 
into  the  Arno.  So  ended  the  one  moral  effort  of 
the  Italian  Renaissance. 

After  his  death  the  Republican  government  en- 
dured for  a  time ;  but  the  Medicean  faction  was 
powerful  and  forced  its  way  back  in  1512.  Then 
Lorenzo's  second  son,  Giovanni  (1475-1521),  follow- 
ing the  steps  of  Florentine  art  and  humanism,  went 
to  Rome  and  became  Pope  Leo  X.  As  Pope,  he  was 
able  to  strengthen  his  family  in  Florence  and  to  ex- 
tend its  dominion.  But  Republicanism,  quickened  by 
the  events  then  happening  in  Rome,  flared  up  once 
more  in  1527  ;  but  it  was  helpless  before  the  hostile 
spirit  of  the  time.  Another  Medici  had  become  Pope, 
Clement  VII,  and  the  requirements  of  policy  induced 
the   calculating  Emperor,   Charles  V,  to   suppress 


THE   BARBARIAN    INVASIONS  263 

■what  he  deemed  a  rebellion.  Florence  made  a  <nil- 
lant  defence ;  Michelangelo  strengthened  her  walls, 
and  the  courage  of  the  defenders  threw  a  dying 
glory  over  the  city.  A  great  grandson  of  Lorenzo, 
Alessandro  dei  Medici,  was  put  into  power,  and 
married  to  a  daughter  of  Charles  V.  He  was  sue- 
ceeded  by  a  distant  cousin,  Cosimo  (1537),  who  was 
honoured  by  His  Holiness  the  Pope  with  the  title  of 
Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany.  Thus  Florentine  liberty 
was  extinguished,  and  the  Medici  were  established 
as  dukes  in  name  as  well  as  in  fact. 

The  Two  Sicilies,  1494-1516 

In  the  south,  it  will  be  remembered,  Alfonso  the 
Magnanimous,  as  the  grateful  humanists  dubbed 
him,  had  united  Sicily  and  the  mainland  ;  but  on 
his  death  (1-158)  the  kingdom  fell  asunder.  Sicily, 
as  a  part  of  the  Kingdom  of  Aragon,  devolved  on 
a  legitimate  brother,  whereas  Naples,  claimed  as  a 
conquest,  was  bequeathed  to  a  bastard  son,  Ferdi- 
nand the  Cruel.  The  two  kingdoms  followed  their 
respective  dynasties  for  nearly  fifty  years,  when 
Sicily  came  by  inheritance  to  Ferdinand  of  Aragon. 
That  crafty  and  eminently  successful  monarch,  not 
satisfied  with  Castile,  Granada,  Sicily,  and  a  transat- 
lantic realm,  but  coveting  the  Kingdom  of  Naples, 
conspired  with  Louis  XII  of  France,  who  now  re- 
presented the  traditional  Angevin  claim;  the  two 
invaded  the  coveted  kingdom,  and  divided  it  between 
them  (1500  L).  Naturally,  the  rogues  disagreed 
over  the  division  of  the  Bpoils,  and  fell  foul  of  each 
other.   The   Spaniards   were   triumphant,   and  the 


2G4         A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

Kingdom  of  Naples  was  annexed  to  the  crown  of 
Spain.  Thus  the  Two  Sicilies  were  reunited  under 
the  Spanish  crown,  and  on  Ferdinand's  death  ( 1516) 
descended  to  his  grandson,  the  Emperor  Charles  V. 
The  unfortunate  kingdom  remained  an  appanage  of 
Spain  for  two  hundred  years. 

Venice,  1453-1508 

In  the  northeast  Venice  still  led  a  brilliant  career, 
like  a  charming  woman  who  has  received  some 
fatal  hurt  and  does  not  know  it,  but  instinctively 
lives  more  brilliantly  than  ever.  Her  fatal  hurt  was 
the  conquest  of  Constantinople  by  the  Turks  (1453). 
At  first  the  only  obvious  ill  consequence  was  war. 
Venice,  willy-nilly,  stepped  into  the  place  of  Con- 
stantinople, and  became  "the  bulwark  of  the  West." 
She  waged  war  after  war  with  the  Turks  and  main- 
tained  her  reputation  for  valour  and  resolution,  but 
Turkey  was  too  strong  for  her,  and  little  by  little 
stripped  her  of  her  long-drawn-out  empire  of  coast 
and  island.  A  far  worse  blow  than  direct  war  was 
the  cutting  of  the  great  trade  routes  with  the  East, 
which  damaged  all  the  maritime  cities  of  Italy,  but 
Venice  most.  Turkey  stopped  the  supplies  of  Ve- 
netian greatness,  and  slowly  but  surely  sapped  Ve- 
netian strength.  On  the  stoppage  of  the  straight 
road  to  Asia,  the  blocked  current  of  commerce  poked 
about  for  a  new  way,  and  discovered  that  it  could 
reach  the  East  by  doubling  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope. 
Commerce  thus  avoided  Turkey,  but  it  also  aban- 
doned the  Mediterranean,  great  centre  and  source 
of  ancient  civilization,  and  left  the  maritime  cities 


THE    BARBARIAN    INVASIONS  265 

of  Italy  stranded,  as  it  were,  on  the  shores  of  a  for- 
saken sea. 

This  doom,  however,  was  still  hidden  in  the  ob- 
scurity of  the  future,  and  Venice  appeared  to  be  at 
the  height  of  prosperity.  The  French  ambassador, 
Philippe  de  Commines,  called  her  "  the  most  tri- 
umphant city  I  have  ever  seen."  The  Venetians 
were  a  people  apart  from  other  Italians  ;  they  never 
suffered  from  foreign  invasion,  or  domestic  revolt ; 
they  lived  in  isolation,  maintained  their  own  cus- 
toms and  usages,  and  enjoyed  a  sumptuous,  opulent 
life,  in  proud  security.  Venice  was  the  richest,  the 
most  comfortable,  the  best  governed  city  in  the 
world.  In  military  strength  she  was  commonly 
reckoned  the  first  power  in  Italy,  with  the  Papacy, 
the  Kingdom  of  Naples,  and  the  Duchy  of  Milan 
about  equal  in  second  rank.  Venice  entertained  no 
suspicion  of  any  seeds  of  decadence,  and  continued 
her  greedy  career  of  annexation  on  the  mainland. 
with  a  haughtiness  worthy  of  ancient  Rome.  She 
laid  hands  on  part  of  Romagna,  and  angered  the 
Popes  who  had  a  title  thereto,  which,  however  imper- 
fect, was  much  better  than  the  Venetian  title.  She 
provoked  the  Emperor  Maximilian,  of  the  House  of 
Hapsburg.  who  claimed  Verona  as  an  Imperial  cil\  : 
and  to  tin-  west  -lie  came  into  dangerous  competi- 
tion with  the  French  invaders.  These  enemies,  tak- 
ing their  cue  from  the  piratical  Beizureof  Naples  by 
the  French  and  Spanish,  agreed  together  to  par- 
tition the  Venetian  territory  on  the  mainland,  and 
invited  all  the  powers  of  Europe  to  join  them  and 
take  a  share  of   the  booty.    The  coalition   planned  a 


266         A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

kind  of  joint-stock  piracy.  This  was  the  League  of 
Cambrai  (1508),  which  stripped  Venice  of  all  her 
Italian  territory,  and  threatened  the  city  herself.  The 
allies,  however,  fell  out  among  themselves ;  and 
Venice,  by  biding  her  opportunity,  in  the  course  of 
time  managed  to  recover  most  of  her  lost  territory. 
Thus,  though  for  a  season  the  Barbarians  brought 
the  haughty  city  to  her  knees,  she  weathered  the 
storms  better  than  the  rest  of  Italy,  and  continued 
to  maintain  her  independence  for  three  centuries  to 
come. 

The  Papacy  deserves  a  chapter  to  itself. 


CHAPTER   XXVII 

THE  PAPAL  MONARCHY  (1471-1527) 

The  Papacy  found  itself  in  an  exceedingly  difficult 
situation.  It  had  to  adapt  an  ecclesiastical  system, 
matured  in  the  Middle  Ages,  to  new  political  sys- 
tems, to  new  knowledge,  to  new  thought,  in  short, 
to  a  new  world.  During  its  struggle  with  the  Em- 
pire, the  course  before  it,  however  arduous,  had  been 
plain,  namely,  to  abase  the  Emperors;  during  its  cap- 
tivity at  Avignon,  its  duty  to  return  to  Rome  (though 
individual  Popes  were  blind  or  indifferent)  likewise 
had  been  plain  ;  during  the  schism,  the  one  end  to 
be  aimed  at  was  union.  But  now  everything  was  new, 
and  a  new  policy  had  to  be  devised.  There  were 
three  matters  which  required  particular  considera- 
tion :  the  demand  for  reform  which  came  from  across 
tin-  Alps;  the  great  intellectual  awakening  of  the 
Renaissance;  and  the  ambitions  of  the  other  Italian 
power-.  For  these  problems  the  solution  which  the 
Papacy  tried  was  twofold  :  to  establish  a  linn  pon- 
tifical principality,  and  to  use  the  new  intellectual 
forces  as  a  motive  power  to  keep  itself  at   the  head 

of  Christendom,    By  a  strong  pontifical  principality 

the  Papacy  hoped  to  secure  itself  against  the  covet- 

OnsneSfl  of  the  other  Italian  states.  By  using  the 
new  intellectual  fore.-,  it  hoped  to  range  them  on  its 
side,  and  so  to  choke,  or  at  least   to  overcrow,  the 


268         A    SHORT   HISTORY  OF   ITALY 

ultramontane  cry  for  reform.  One  need  not  suppose 
that  such  a  plan  was  consciously  thought  out  in  de- 
tail from  the  beginning  ;  rather  it  was  the  course 
which  the  Papacy  gradually  took,  partly  from  the- 
ory, partly  under  the  stress  of  passing  circumstances. 

We  remember  that  the  Council  of  Constance  closed 
the  Great  Schism,  and  sent  Martin  V  (1417-31) 
back  to  Rome  as  sole  Pope.  His  pontificate  marks 
the  end  of  the  old  Republican  commune,  which 
had  made  so  much  trouble  for  Popes  and  Emper- 
ors in  days  past,  and  therefore  marks  the  first 
definite  stage  in  the  transformation  of  the  Papacy 
into  a  local  secular  power.  Rome,  although  she  did 
not  deny  herself  an  occasional  outbreak  in  mem- 
ory, as  it  were,  of  good  old  days,  settled  down  into 
a  papal  city. 

The  most  interesting  part  of  the  papal  story  is 
the  process  that  went  on  within  the  Church.  The 
intolerable  burden  of  ecclesiastical  taxation,  the 
growth  of  heresy ,#and  the  degeneration  of  the  clergy, 
as  well  as  the  Great  Schism,  had  roused  Europe  to 
a  sense  that  something  must  be  done,  and  Europe 
attempted  the  old  remedy  of  Ecumenical  Councils. 
At  Constance  the  question  of  general  reform  had 
come  up,  but  the  papal  party  had  managed  to  pre- 
vent action.  At  the  next  Council,  held  at  Basel, 
internal  difficulties  appeared  still  more  plainly.  Party 
lines  were  sharply  drawn  ;  the  ultramontanes,  as  be- 
fore, wished  to  subject  the  Popes  to  the  supremacy 
of  Councils,  to  substitute  an  ecclesiastical  aristocracy 
of  bishops  in  place  of  a  papal  monarchy,  and,  as 
it  were,  transfer  the  centre  of  ecclesiastical  gravity 


THE   PAPAL   MONARCHY  269 

from  Rome  across  the  Alps.  Feeling  ran  so  high 
that  the  Council  split  in  two.  Part  followed  the  Pope 
to  Italy,  and  part  stayed  in  Basel  and  elected  an  anti- 
pope  (1439).  It  looked  as  if  schism  had  come  again, 
but  the  danger  passed.  The  anti-pope  resigned ; 
unity  was  restored  and  lasted  for  seventy  years. 

Nicholas  V,  as  we  have  seen,  hoped  to  maintain 
the  Papacy  at  the  head  of  Christendom  by  means  of 
the  new  intellectual  forces.  Such  a  conception  was 
purely  Italian,  and  showed  plainly  enough  that  the 
Papacy  had  ceased  to  represent  Christendom,  had 
ceased  to  be  the  real  head  of  a  Universal  Church, 
and  had  become  a  purely  Italian  institution.  While 
Nicholas  and  his  successors  were  thinking  of  culture 
and  of  becoming  Italian  princes,  the  pious  ultra- 
montanes,  comparatively  indifferent  to  the  intellec- 
tual excitement  of  the  Renaissance,  were  thinking 
of  sin  and  of  the  remedy  for  sin.  The  papal  Curia 
was  clever,  but  did  not  foresee  that  to  subordinate 
the  old  conception  of  the  Papacy  as  the  head  of  the 
religious  and  ecclesiastical  organization  of  Europe 
to  the  new  conception  of  it  as  an  Italian  principality 
would  surely  alienate  the  Teutonic  peoples ;  it  did 
not  foresee  that  the  Renaissance,  with  it s  spirit  of 
examination,  investigation,  criticism,  with  its  encour- 
agemenl  of  the  free  play  of  the  human  mind,  was 
nee»"^aril\  preparing  the  way  for  the  Reformation, 
lint  the  Curia  perceived  the  opposite  difficulties,  to 
which  we  are  generally  blind,  thai  unless  the  Papacy 
did  establish  itself  as  a  temporal  power,  it  might 
well  be  reduced  to  another  Babylonish  Captivity  by 

a  king  of  Naples,  a  duke  of  Milan,  or  even    by  some 


270         A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF  ITALY 

COndottiere.  And  it  perceived  that  other  difficulty 
as  well,  that  if  the  Papacy  turned  against  the  intel- 
lectual movement,  the  intellectual  movement  would, 
in  self-defence,  turn  against  the  Papacy. 

The  Popes  did  indeed  seek  to  revive  the  old  role 
of  the  Papacy  in  one  respect.  They  tried  to  arouse 
the  sentiment  of  Christendom  against  the  invading 
Turks,  and  to  lead  a  crusade  themselves.  But  the 
time  for  such  a  course  had  passed.  The  kings  and 
princes  of  Europe  were  busy  with  their  own  king- 
doms and  principalities  and  would  not  badge  ;  and 
the  Papacy  was  obliged  to  give  up  the  plan.  Dis- 
couraged by  this  failure  it  naturally  turned  to  the 
new  theory  of  a  little  papal  kingdom  and  vigorously 
put  the  theory  into  practice.  The  three  Popes  who 
accomplished  this  task  were  Francesco  della  Rovere, 
Sixtus  IV  (1471-84),  Rodrigo  Borgia,  Alexander  VI 
(1493-1503),  and  Giuliano  della  Rovere,  Julius  II 
(1503-13).  Their  careers  must  be  looked  at  more 
closely. 

Sixtus  IV  was  the  son  of  a  peasant.  Educated  by 
the  Franciscans,  he  became  distinguished  as  a  scholar 
in  theology,  philosophy,  and  ecclesiastical  affairs,  and 
was  chosen  general  of  the  order.  When  Pope,  after 
a  last  futile  attempt  to  start  a  crusade,  Sixtus  openly 
abandoned  the  role  of  Pontiff  of  Christendom  and 
became  an  Italian  prince.  Energetic  and  masterful, 
he  set  to  work  to  consolidate  the  loose  and  insubor- 
dinate papal  territories  into  a  compact  state.  The 
task  was  not  easy,  and  one  of  the  obstacles  in  his  way 
was  lack  of  men  whom  he  could  trust.  It  was  of 
little  advantage  to  gather  together  an  army,  or  to 


THE   PAPAL  MONARCHY  271 

capture  a  city,  if  the  papal  general  or  governor  found 
his  own  interests  opposed  to  papal  interests.  Loy- 
alty was  held  in  scant  esteem  by  Italians  of  the  Re- 
naissance. Sixtus  met  the  difficulty  by  employing 
his  nephews.  This  policy  was  by  no  means  the  be- 
ginning of  papal  nepotism,  but  these  nephews  hap- 
pened to  be  young  men  with  marked  tastes  for  greed, 
ferocity,  and  dissipation,  and  brought  the  system  into 
especial  notoriety.  To  one  nephew  the  Pope  gave  a 
cardinal's  hat,  four  bishoprics,  an  abbey,  a  patriarch- 
ate, as  well  as  free  access  to  the  papal  treasury. 
When  this  young  man  had  died  of  dissipation,  the 
post  of  chief  favourite  descended  to  his  brother.  For 
him  the  Pope  procured  a  wife  from  the  ducal  house  of 
Sforza,  and  began  to  carve  a  dukedom  in  Romagna, 
writh  the  intention  of  adding  slices  cut  from  the  neigh- 
bouring states.  This  young  man  was  arrogant,  igno- 
rant, and  brutal,  with  no  interests  except  ambition 
and  the  chase.  In  due  course  he  was  murdered. 
Whatever  effect  nepotism  of  this  character  produced 
across  the  Alps,  it  served  certain  purposes  in  Italy. 
Sixtus  made  himself  feared,  and  advanced  the  project 
of  a  papal  kingdom  to  a  point  where  his  successors 
wen-  able  to  take  it  up  and  complete  it. 

Sixtus    also   pursued    Nicholas's    plan    of    making 

Rome  the  firs!  city  of  the  world  in  art  and  magnifi- 
cence.   He  brought  together  architects  and  artists,  and 

patronized  art  and  literature.  Bui  this  aspect  of  the 
plan  to  maintain  the  Papacy  at  the  head  of  Christian 
Europe  belongs  rathei  to  the  ston  of  the  high  Re- 
naissance, and  mus1  he  postponed  to  the  next  chapter. 
We  i j i ; i  \  pass  over  the  nexl  Pope,  who  was  not  dis- 


272  A    SHORT    HISTORY    OF    ITALY 

(anguished  except  for  a  frank  recognition  of  his  ille- 
gitimate  children,  and  for  what  then  appeared  a 
whimsical  desire  to  maintain  peace,  and  proceed  to 
the  notorious  RodrigO  Borgia,  Alexander  VI.    It  was 

in  Borgia's  pontificate  that  the  French  invasion  of 
1494  took  place.  This  introduction  of  a  new  and 
terrible  element  into  Italian  politics  frightened  him 
as  well  as  other  Italian  rulers,  for  he  knew  that  the 
Papal  State  would  never  be  strong  enough  to  resist 
single-handed  such  an  army  as  that  of  Charles  VIII, 
and  he  tried  to  form  a  union  of  the  Italian  powers 
for  common  defence.  His  policy  met  little  suc- 
cess, especially  as  he  himself,  seeing  advantages  to 
be  gained  from  a  French  alliance,  whirled  about, 
granted  to  the  French  king  a  dispensation  for  di- 
vorce, to  the  French  favourite  a  cardinal's  hat,  and 
made  a  separate  treaty  for  himself  (1499).  Borgia 
did  no  more  than  any  other  Italian  prince  would  have 
done,  but  he  must  bear  his  share  of  the  responsibil- 
ity. It  was  a  deliberate  sacrifice  of  Italian  for  papal 
interests.  Whether  that  was  justifiable  or  not  is  an- 
other matter.  The  Pope  wished  to  establish  a  Pontif- 
ical State,  and  acted  in  the  manner  which  he  thought 
would  be  most  likely  to  achieve  success. 

Borgia  also  followed  the  example  set  by  Sixtus, 
and  raised  his  family  to  power  and  rank,  partly, 
of  course,  from  affection,  but  partly  in  order  to 
strengthen  the  Papacy.  His  task  was  to  reduce  the 
papal  vassals  in  the  Pontifical  States  to  obedience 
and  so  to  create  a  strong  central  government.  The 
instrument  he  employed  was  his  son  Caesar  Borgia. 
This  brilliant  young  man  has  won  a  great  reputa- 


THE   PAPAL   MONARCHY  273 

tion,  owing  in  large  measure  to  Machiavelli's  admi- 
ration. He  was  an  athletic,  handsome,  taciturn  man, 
quick,  cunning,  and  cruel.  He  began  his  career  in 
the  Church,  but  at  the  time  of  his  father's  reconcili- 
ation with  France,  gave  up  his  cardinal's  hat,  and 
was  created  duke  by  the  French  king.  Csesar  made 
an  excellent  instrument  for  rooting  out  the  disobe- 
dient  vassals  of  the  Papal  State.  They  were  crafty. 
greedy,  and  false  ;  he  was  craftier,  greedier,  and 
falser  than  they.  He  dispossessed  them  with  ruthless 
vigour,  and  established  himself  in  their  stead.  His 
energy  and  success  were  extraordinary,  and  fright- 
ened other  Italian  rulers.  None  knew  how  far  his 
ambition  might  stretch,  or  how  far  the  Papacy  might 
be  able  to  push  him.  The  direct  military  power  of 
the  Pontifical  State  was  not  very  great  and  could 
readily  be  measured,  but  the  indirect  power  of  the 
Papacy  as  head  of  the  Christian  Church  was  vague 
and  alarming.  Nevertheless,  Caesar's  principality, 
which  rested  wholly  on  the  Papacy,  fell  to  pieces 
when  his  father  died. 

Borgia's  attitude  towards  the  arts  belongs  to  tin- 
next  chapter;  but  in  respect  to  them  as  well  as 
to  the  Pontifical  State,  he  followed  what  I  have 
called  the  twofold  policy  of  the  Popes  of  the  Re- 
naissance. That  policy  undoubtedly  had  its  advan- 
;  but  it  also  had  its  disadvantages,  and  these 
appear  more  conspicuous  in  Borgia's  pontificate 
than  in  any  other.  The  establishment  of  papal  do- 
minion, as  we  have  seen,  encouraged,  if  it  did  not 
necessitate,  nepotism;  and  nepotism  involved  prodi- 
gality and  dissipation.   The  Popes  used  their  fami- 


274        A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF  ITALY 

lies  to  strengthen  their  position  ;  and  the  upstart 
families,  giddy  with  sudden  wealth  and  power,  mis- 
behaved. The  nephews  of  Sixtus  rendered  some 
service  to  the  Papacy,  but  they  caused  scandal. 
Caesar  Borgia  rendered  greater  services,  and  caused 
still  greater  scandal.  The  other  branch  of  the  two- 
fold policy,  by  a  different  path,  led  to  the  same 
result.  Patronage  of  arts  and  letters  involved  great 
expense  and  encouraged  luxurious  tastes ;  luxury 
led  to  idleness,  and  idleness  to  vice.  The  Roman 
atmosphere  had  never  been  favourable  to  spiritual 
life,  and  now,  surcharged  with  the  classical  spirit  of 
the  Renaissance,  practically  extinguished  religion. 

For  centuries  the  Roman  Curia  had  been  a  butt 
for  the  arrows  of  satire.  The  minnesingers  of  Ger- 
many, the  troubadours  of  Provence,  had  paused  in 
their  amorous  ditties  to  compose  bitter  gibes  against 
the  greed  and  luxurious  life  of  the  great  Roman  pre- 
lates. Taunts  such  as  this  became  household  phrases  : 
Curia  Romana  non  quaerit  ovem  sine  lana.1  Dante 
had  put  priest,  prelate,  and  Pope  into  hell.  Petrarch 
had  written  scathing  verses  :  — 

Nest  of  treachery,  wherein  is  hatched 
All  evil  that  besets  the  world  to-day, 
Slaves  to  wine,  debauch,  and  gluttony, 

Well-head  of  woe,  and  baiting  place  of  wrath, 
School  of  false  thought,  temple  of  heresy,  etc. 

One  of  the  best  tales  in  the  "  Decameron"  turns  on 
the  conversion  of  a  Jew,  who  goes  to  Rome,  sees 
the  conduct  of  Pope    and    cardinals,  and    becomes 

1  The  Roman  Curia  is  not  looking  for  a  sheep  without  wool. 


THE   PAPAL   MONARCHY  275 

convinced  that  only  a  Divine  Church  can  support 
so  staggering  a  burden.  In  Borgia's  time  the  Curia 
outdid  itself,  and  Borgia  led  the  way.  He  acknow- 
ledged his  children,  and  lavished  papal  revenues 
upon  them  ;  he  bestowed  a  cardinal's  hat  on  Alex- 
ander Farnese,  founder  of  the  Farnese  family,  for 
the  sake  of  Giulia  Farnese,  his  frail  sister;  he  sanc- 
tioned ballets  and  theatricals  of  a  scandalous  nature 
in  the  Vatican  palace,  and  encouraged  his  sons  and 
his  cardinals  in  a  dissolute  life.  Vice  was  not  all ; 
the  odour  of  crime  infected  the  air.  The  Pope's  son, 
the  Duke  of  Gandia,  was  murdered,  so  was  his  son- 
in-law,  husband  of  his  daughter  Lucrezia.  Cardinals 
died  mysteriously.  The  common  voice,  whispering 
low  in  Rome  and  loud  elsewhere,  ascribed  these 
murders  to  Caesar  Borgia.  It  appeared  as  if  the 
Pope  believed  the  charges  himself.  "  Caesar,"  he 
said,  "  is  a  good-natured  man,  but  he  cannot  toler- 
ate affronts."  Lucrezia,  too,  became  the  object  of 
the  grossest  slanders.  No  doubt  common  gossip 
then,  as  always,  raised  a  tree  of  falsehood  from  a 
mustard  grain  of  truth  ;  but  credulity  accepted  every 
accusation  as  true.  North  of  the  Alps  the  simple- 
minded  Germans  shuddered  and  crossed  themselves. 
Even  the  Romans  were  shocked.  When  the  Pope 
died,  no  man  would  touch  his  body  ;  it  was  dragged 
by  a  rope  fastened  to  its  loot  from  the  bed  to  the 
grave,  and  there  tumbled  in.  No.  one  doubted  that 
bis  soul  had  gone  to  hell. 

Alexander  VI  violated  every  rule  of  domestic 
morality;  nevertheless,  Pope  Julius  II  (1603-13) 
violated  the  sacred  character  of  priest  as  fundamen* 


276         A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF    ITALY 

tally,  though  in  a  much  less  repulsive  way.  Julius, 
a  nephew  of  Sixtus  IV,  was  a  fiery  soldier,  a  bigh- 
aspiring  prince,  a  man  of  great  qualities,  impatient 
and  magnificent.  Had  he  been  duke  of  Milan  or 
King  of  Naples,  he  would  have  presented  a  noble 
figure  ;  but  a  Pope  armed  cap-a-pie,  entering  a  con- 
quered city  through  the  breach  battered  by  his  can- 
non, was  as  clear  a  defiance  of  the  evangelical  spirit 
of  the  reformers  as  the  private  profligacy  of  Pope 
Bonria. 

Julius  pursued  the  twofold  policy  of  the  Papacy 
with  greater  zeal  and  greater  success  than  any  of  his 
predecessors.  His  furious  energy  completed  the  work 
of  making;  the  incohesive  states  of  the  Church  into 
a  compact  principality  ;  and  he  is  the  real  founder 
of  the  absolute  Papal  State,  the  first  real  Pope-king. 
He  achieved  equal  success  in  the  other  branch  of 
the  policy,  and  revelled  in  the  kindred  spirit  of  the 
Hiffh  Renaissance.  Julius  exalted  Rome  to  the 
place  of  first  city  in  the  world;  and  if  the  world 
had  asked  for  art  from  the  Papacy  instead  of  ask- 
ing for  religion,  it  would  have  been  abundantly 
satisfied.  But  Germany  was  thinking  of  sin,  of  vice, 
of  simony,  of  taxation,  and  was  becoming  conscious 
of  an  extreme  national  antipathy  to  Italian  rule ; 
and  when  a  young  German  monk,  like  Martin 
Luther,  went  to  Rome,  instead  of  taking  pleasure  in 
the  architecture,  painting,  and  sculpture  that  adorned 
the  city,  he  was  horrified  at  the  lack  of  religion. 

Julius,  however,  was  entitled  to  a  sense  of  ac- 
complishment at  his  death.  He  left  to  his  successors 
a  little  kingdom  in  the  middle  of  Italy,  and  he  had 


THE   PAPAL   MONARCHY  277 

made  Rome  the  centre  of  the  arts.  Not  till  the  days 
of  his  successors  did  the  failure  of  that  policy  appear. 
By  a  kind  of  poetic  justice  the  utter  failure  of  art 
to  satisfy  the  demand  for  reform,  for  purity,  for  re- 
ligion, was  proved  during  the  pontificates  of  the  two 
Medici,  Leo  X  and  Clement  VII.  The  Medici  had 
patronized  the  arts,  both  in  Florence  and  in  Rome, 
and  the  arts  repaid  the  Medici  with  enjoyment  and 
renown.  But  the  Medici  had  done  nothing  for  the 
spirit  of  reform ;  on  the  contrary,  they  had  helped 
crush  Savonarola,  and  the  spirit  of  reform  turned 
upon  them.  Germany  hoisted  the  standard  of  seces- 
sion during  the  pontificate  of  Leo,  and  an  army  of 
the  unfaithful  sacked  Rome  during'  that  of  Clement. 
Leo  X  was  a  fat,  clever,  cultivated  man,  with  no 
great  virtues  and  no  real  vices.  "  Let  us  enjoy  the 
Papacy  since  God  has  given  it  to  us,"  is  the  senti- 
ment put  into  his  mouth,  and  serves  to  characterize 
his  reign.  Bred  in  his  father's  intellectual  circle, 
and  a  member  of  the  luxurious  Roman  society,  Leo 
shared  the  tastes  of  both.  He  was  a  connoisseur  of 
works  of  art,  and  derived  genuine  aesthetic  pleasure 
from  them  ;  he  was  also  fond  of  agreeable  com- 
pany.  good  cookery,  the  chase,  and  most  forms  of 
Bocial  amusement.  His  political  conduct  was  not  of 
much  real  consequence,  as  matters  had  gone  too  Ear. 
In  the  interminable  struggle  between  Charles  V  and 
Francis  I.  the  Papacy  tried  to  hold  a  balance  of 
power,  and  bargained  with  both  sides:  but.  as  the 
Spaniards,  in  possession  of  both  Milan  and  Naples, 
wen-  the  stronger,  the  Papacy  generally  found  its 

advantage  On  that  side.    As   to   the  larger  matter  of 


27s         a    SHORT   HISTORY  OF   ITALY 

the  ecclesiastical  unity  of  Christendom  there  was 
practically  nothing'  to  be  done.  -The  causes  which 
split  the  Teutonic  world  from  the  Latin  were  al- 
ready matured.  It  was  too  late  to  stop  the  Reforma- 
tion.  Luther  might  have  been  dealt  with  more 
shrewdly,  but  the  forces  behind  him  could  not  have 
been  kept  in  check.  Leo  excommunicated  Luther 
( 1520),  and  the  Imperial  Diet  at  Worms  condemned 
him  and  his  doctrine,  but  the  unity  of  the  Church 
was  doomed. 

To  Leo  succeeded  his  cousin  Clement  VII,  after  a 
brief  pontificate  by  the  last  foreign  Pope.  Clement 
was  incompetent,  and  failed  to  realize  the  gravity  of 
his  situation  ;  neither  he  nor  Rome  understood  the 
crisis  they  had  reached.  The  prevailing  state  of 
mind  may  be  inferred  from  this  extract  from  the 
diary  of  a  young  Roman  burgher  :  "  I  saw  this  Pope 
the  first  day  of  May,  1525,  come  in  the  morning  of 
the  Feast  of  SS.  Philip  and  James  to  the  Church  of 
the  Holy  Apostles,  and  after  celebrating  high  mass,  re- 
main all  day  and  night  in  the  palace  of  the  Colonna. 
.  .  .  That  day  it  was  an  old  and  foolish  custom  in 
the  Colonna  palace  (which  connects  with  the  church 
and  has  windows  looking  in  it),  to  throw  various 
kinds  of  fowls  and  animals  into  the  church  to  the 
people  who  were  there,  all  of  the  lowest  sort.  They 
also  put  a  pig  in  the  middle  of  the  church  up  high, 
and  whoever  was  able  to  climb  up  and  take  it,  won 
it ;  and  on  top  of  the  roof  were  kegs  and  pots  of 
water,  which  they  poured  on  the  persons  who  climbed 
up.  The  amusement  of  those  gentlemen,  and  of  the 
rest  who  looked  on,  was  to  see  the  crowd  in  a  mess, 


THE   PAPAL   MONARCHY  279 

battling,  shrieking-,  pushing,  shoving,  like  beasts,  — 
a  merry-making  not  becoming  in  a  church  or  anv 
sacred  edifice."  The  diary  adds:  "Now  let  people 
learn  to  know  the  souls  of  the  great  and  especially 
of  priests,  how  wicked,  deceitful,  and  false  they  are, 
how  full  of  fraud  and  knavery."  '  There  were  plenty 
of  other  facts  to  prove  this  conclusion.  The  merry- 
making was  doomed  to  cease. 

The  incompetent  Pope  was  totally  at  a  loss  what 
policy  to  follow,  not  knowing  whether  it  was  better 
to  incline  towards  the  Empire  or  to  France.  He 
shifted  at  the  wrong  time,  joined  a  league  against 
the  Empire,  then  wriggled  and  shuffled,  and  so 
drew  upon  himself  and  the  devoted  city  the  punish- 
ment due  to  a  long  course  of  wickedness.  The  Im- 
perial army,  a  ruffian  host  of  Germans  (many  of 
them  Lutherans),  Spaniards,  and  Italians,  under  the 
command  of  the  traitor  Bourbon,  was  encamped  in 
the  north;  the  unpaid  soldiers  clamoured  for  plun- 
der, and  Bourbon  led  them  to  Rome,  carried  the 
neglected  walls  by  assault,  and  put  the  city  to  sack. 
Rome  was  a  little  city,  with  perhaps  90,000  inhabit- 
ants, but  rich  in  the  oblations  and  tribute  monej  of 
Christendom;  the  churches  were  decked  with  gold 
and  silver,  the  palaces  stalled  with  precious  paint- 
ings, tapestries,  and  ornaments  of  every  kind.  Popes, 
cardinals,  and  princes  had  rivalled  one  another  in 
accumulations  of  works  of  art  and  articles  of  luxury. 
Though  license,  profligacy,  and  crime  had  then  shut 
out  Koine  from  the  Bympathy  of  the  world,  it  is  im- 

1  TKp  Papacy  during  the  Reformation,  roL  \,  Appendis  (tru*. 
lated  |.   ML  Cn  ighfem. 


280         A    SHORT    HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

possible  to  read  to-day  of  the  horrors  of  the  sack  — 
men  murdered,  mothers,  daughters,  nuns  outraged, 
old  men  and  priests  brutally  insulted,  churches  and 
sacred  relics  defiled  —  without  the  sharpest  pity. 
For  eight  days  the  devilish  work  went  on,  and  but 
30,000  inhabitants  were  left,  so  many  had  fled,  or 
been  killed,  or  made  prisoners  (1527). 

Terrible  was  the  punishment  that  Clement  wit- 
nessed, —  Rome  sacked,  the  liberty  of  Italy  taken 
away,  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  rent  in  two. 


CHAPTER   XXVIII 

THE   HIGH   RENAISSANCE   (1499-1521) 

We  are  now  at  liberty  to  return  to  the  great  intel- 
lectual and  artistic  movement  that  lifted  Italy  to 
the  primacy  in  Europe,  and  reached  its  zenith  in  the 
period  of  time  to  which  the  last  two  chapters  have 
been  devoted.  This  is  the  culminating  period,  in 
which  the  greatest  masters  did  their  work,  and  sep- 
arates the  earlier  and  more  experimental  stage  that 
preceded  it  from  the  later  stage  of  exaggeration  and 
decadence  which  followed.  The  movement  swept  all 
the  arts  along  with  it.  It  produced  the  greatest  men 
in  literature  since  Petrarch,  the  greatest  architects 
since  the  Gothic  masters  of  the  He  de  France,  the 
greatest  sculptors  since  Praxiteles,  the  greatest  paint- 
ers that  ever  were. 

Italian  literature  cannot  compare  with  English 
literature  or  French  in  compass,  variety,  richness,  or 
delicacy.  Indeed,  except  for  Dante,  it  would  have 
rather  a  thin  and  tinkling  sound.  Nevertheless,  in 
the  High  Renaissance  it  roused  itself  brilliantly. 
Nice. In  Machiavelli  was  the  ablest  writer  on  the 
policy  of  government  between  Aristotle  and  Burke. 
Gnicciardini  was  the  first  modern  historian.  Count 
Baldassarre Castiglione's  "  Booh  of  the  Courtier"  is 
i-  singularly  excellent  in  its  way  as  Boswell'a  "  Life 
of  Johnson*"   Of  tins  book.whiob  portrays  fashion- 


282        A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

able  society  at  the  elegant  court  of  Urbino,  Tassosays: 
"  So  long  a.s  there  shall  be  princes  and  courts,  so  long 
as  ladies  and  gentlemen  shall  meet  in  society,  so 
long  as  virtue  and  courtesy  shall  abide  in  our  hearts, 
the  name  of  Castiglione  will  be  held  in  honour." 
The  book  purports  to  be  a  series  of  conversations 
between  the  duchess  and  her  guests  concerning  the 
proper  qualities  of  a  perfect  gentleman.  This  society, 
no  doubt,  is  a  little  affected,  stilted,  and  conceited, 
but  it  is  dignified,  well-behaved,  and  high-minded. 
These  people  discuss  deportment,  athletics,  propri- 
ety of  speech,  whether  one  must  keep  within  the  Tus- 
can vocabulary  of  Petrarch  and  Boccaccio  or  may 
make  use  of  the  vernacular  spoken  elsewhere,  whether 
painting  or  sculpture  is  the  nobler  art,  what  a  gen- 
tleman's dress  should  be,  and  so  on.  The  discussion 
proceeds  to  the  proper  behaviour  of  a  lady,  and  by 
natural  steps  to  love.  Bembo,  a  famous  litterateur, 
here  takes  the  floor,  plunges  into  Platonic  ideas,  and 
argues  that  the  higher  love,  governed  by  reason,  is 
better  than  lower  love,  and  will  lead  to  contemplation 
of  universal  beauty ;  but  that  even  this  stage  of  love 
is  imperfect,  and  the  lover  must  mount  higher  still, 
until  his  soul,  purified  by  philosophy  and  spiritual 
life,  sees  the  light  of  angelic  beauty  and,  ravished 
by  the  splendour  of  that  light,  becomes  intoxicated 
and  beside  itself  from  passion  to  lose  itself  in  the 
light.  "  Let  us,  then,  direct  all  the  thoughts  and 
forces  of  our  soul  to  this  most  sacred  light,  which 
shows  us  the  way  that  leads  to  heaven  ;  and  follow- 
ing after  it,  let  us  lay  aside  the  passions  wherewith 
we  were  clothed  at  our  fall,  and  by  the  stairway 


THE   HIGH   RENAISSANCE  283 

that  bears  the  shadow  of  sensual  beauty  on  its  low- 
est step,  let  us  mount  to  the  lofty  mansion  where 
dwells  the  heavenly,  lovely,  and  true  beauty,  which 
lies  hidden  in  the  inmost  secret  recesses  of  God,  so 
that  profane  eyes  cannot  behold  it,"1  etc.  This  may 
savour  somewhat  too  much  of  Platonic  rhetoric, 
but  such  feelings  were  genuine,  emotionally  genuine, 
even  if  they  proved  evanescent  in  practice  ;  they  were 
familiar  to  Lorenzo  dei  Medici  and  his  friends,  and 
to  the  nobler  spirits  throughout  Italy,  and  are  as 
characteristic  of  the  period  as  its  cruelty,  treachery, 
or  sensuality.  The  effect  of  such  cultivated  circles 
upon  art  must  have  been  great;  they  gave  artists 
encouragement,  sympathy,  employment,  and  by  the 
union  of  fashion  and  intelligence  helped  educate 
the  taste  of  a  larger  public.  It  must  be  remembered 
that  both  Bramante  and  Raphael  came  from  U  rhino. 
Poetry,  with  the  delightful  spontaneity  and  capri- 
ciousness  of  Italian  genius,  chose  Ferrara,  the  home 
of  the  House  of  Este,  to  hang  its  laurels  in.  There 
Matteo  Boiardo  wrote  the  "Orlando  Innamorato" 
(Roland  in  Love).  This  poem  is  an  epic  of  chivalry 
concerning  Charlemagne's  court,  and  deals  Berioualy, 
and    yet    at    times    ironically,    with    the    suliject    of 

Roland's  love  for  the  beautiful   Angelica.    It  was 
left  unfinished,  and   Lodovico  Ariosto  (1474— 1533) 

picked    Dp    the   thread    and    carried    it    on,   far    more 

brilliantly  and  Ear  more  ironically,  under  the  title 
"  <  Orlando  Furioso"  |  Roland  ( 'razed  I.  Axiosto's  poem, 
which  was  immensely  popular,  was  intended  to  en- 
tertain, and  it  BUCCeeded;  its  variety,  wit.  irony, 
i  Bool  ■ '  At  Courtier,  p  806|  translated  by  L.  E.  Opdyakti 


284         A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

sarcasm,  and  levity  make  it  entertaining  even  now. 
[nferior  in  moral  and  sensuous  beauty  to  Spenser's 
"  Faerie  Queene,"  it  is  far  easier  to  read.  Its  interest 
for  us  lies  in  the  li<rht  it  sheds  on  the  intellectual 
state  of  educated  Italians  of  the  Renaissance,  espe- 
cially in  regard  to  religion.  Biblical  allusions,  sa- 
cred north  of  the  Alps,  are  lugged  in  to  give  a 
touch  of  humour,  as,  for  instance,  where  one  of  the 
knights,  Astolfo,  goes  on  a  search  for  Roland's  lost 
wits  and  meets  St.  John  the  Evangelist,  who  drives 
him  to  the  moon  in  Elijah's  chariot ;  or  where,  in 
another  passage,  St.  Michael  finds  that  the  goddess 
of  Discord  has  not  obeyed  his  commands,  "  the 
angel  seized  her  by  the  hair,  kicked  and  pounded 
her  incessantly,  broke  a  cross  over  her  head,  till 
Discord  embraced  the  knees  of  the  divine  envoy 
and  howled  for  mercy."  Ariosto,  himself,  conformed 
to  the  rites  of  the  Church.  Like  most  educated 
Italians  he  accepted  them  as  conventional  forms, 
tinged  possibly  with  supernatural  power,  and  kept 
ecclesiastical  ideas  wholly  separate  from  moral  ideas. 
His  sceptical,  ironical,  Epicurean  attitude  towards 
non-material  things  is  characteristic  of  the  deca- 
dence of  this  period  in  which  mental  activity  had 
outgrown  morality. 

Ariosto  was  a  gentleman  of  birth  and  position.  He 
spent  most  of  his  life  in  the  service  of  his  princes, 
the  House  of  Este.  In  later  life  he  withdrew  from 
their  employment,  and  lived  in  his  own  house,  parva 
sed  apta  (small  but  suitable),  to  which  the  literary 
pious  still  make  pilgrimages.  He  wrote  the  "  Orlando 
Furioso  "  between  1505  and  1515,  and  thereafter  de- 


THE   HIGH   RENAISSANCE  285 

voted  most  of  his  leisure  to  improving  and  polishing 
it.  Basking  in  the  sunshine  of  fashionable  admira- 
tion, he  little  suspected  that  another  man,  who  had 
spent  his  life  in  mighty  feats  of  architecture,  paint- 
ing, and  sculpture,  would  in  his  old  age  write  sonnets 
that  should  be  read  and  reread  like  a  breviary  by 
serious  men  and  women  who  passed  his  own  luxuri- 
ous rhetoric  unheeded.  Michelangelo's  sonnets  (some 
of  which  were  written  to  Vittoria  Colonna)  are  the 
noblest  embodiment  of  those  high  ideas  of  love  which 
came  down  from  Plato  to  the  philosophers  of  the 
Palazzo  Medici  in  Florence  and  the  courtiers  at  the 
ducal  palace  in  Urbino.  They  are  crammed  to  burst- 
ing with  passionate  intensity,  and  in  that  respect  have 
no  equals,  even  in  English. 

In  the  fine  arts  the  High  Renaissance  has  a  score 
of  famous  men.  Among  them  three  or  four  stand 
head  and  shoulders  above  their  fellows.  Each  is 
marked  by  extraordinary  individuality  of  talents, 
character,  and  disposition  :  Michelangelo  by  passion- 
ate furv —  terribUitd  ;  Raphael  by  sweet  serenity; 
Bramante  by  his  even  commingling  of  poise  and  ar- 
dour :  Leonardo  by  his  noble  curiosity. 

Of  Leonardo.  V  a  sari  says :  "  Sometimes  according 
to  the  course  of  nature,  sometimes  beyond  and  above 
it.  tlif  crreatesl  gifts  rain  down  from  heavenly  influ- 
ences  upon  the  bodies  of  men,  ami  crowd  into  one 
individual  beauty, grace, and  excellence  in  Buch  Buper- 
ahundance  thai  to  whatever  that  man  shall  turn, his 
very  ad  is  so  divine,  that,  surpassing  tlm  work  of  all 
otliei-men.it  makes  manifest  that  it  is  by  die  special 
"-in  of  God,  and  not  by  human  art.  This  was  true  of 


28G         A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF  ITALY 

Leonardo  da  Vinci ;  who,  beside  a  physical  beauty 
beyond  all  praise,  put  an  infinite  grace  into  whatever 
he  did,  and  such  was  his  excellence,  that  to  what- 
ever difficult  things  his  mind  turned  he  easily  solved 
them."  Leonardo  (1452-1519)  was  a  Florentine.  He 
was  trained  by  the  subtle  Verrocchio,  from  whom  he 
learned  the  smile,  if  it  be  a  smile,  on  the  faces  of  his 
portraits  of  women.  After  leaving  Verrocchio's  work- 
shop he  went  to  Lombardy,  where  he  spent  sixteen 
years  at  the  court  of  Milan.  There  he  did  a  hundred 
different  things:  he  modelled  a  great  equestrian 
statue  of  Francesco  Sforza  (since  destroyed),  painted 
portraits,  drew  architectural  designs,  —  for  a  cupola, 
a  staircase,  a  bathroom,  a  triumphal  arch,  etc.,  — 
executed  hydraulic  works,  studied  the  cultivation  of 
the  grape,  and  played  on  his  silver  lyre.  In  the  re- 
fectory of  a  Dominican  monastery  he  painted  his 
fresco  of  The  Last  Supper.  One  of  the  novices,  who 
watched  this  handsome  young  painter  at  work,  says 
that  sometimes  he  would  dash  up  the  scaffold,  brush 
in  hand,  put  a  few  touches  and  hurry  down  ;  some- 
times he  would  paint  from  sunrise  to  sunset  without 
stopping  even  to  eat ;  sometimes  he  would  stand  for 
hours  contemplating  the  different  figures.  After 
Sforza's  fall,  Leonardo  left  Milan,  and  for  a  time  took 
service  with  Csesar  Borgia  as  military  engineer  and 
architect.  He  subsequently  returned  to  Florence, 
and  finally  went  to  France,  where  he  died. 

Little  remains  of  all  that  Leonardo  planned.  A 
half-destroyed  fresco,  a  few  easel  pictures,  some  in- 
comparable drawings,  some  treatises  on  his  arts,  some 
apothegms,  are  enough,  however,  to  justify  his  fame. 


THE   HIGH   RENAISSANCE  287 

One  of  his  apothegms,  7V,  o  Iddio,  tutto  ci  r>  ndi 
a  prezzo  di  fatiica  (Thou,  0  God,  sellest  us  every- 
thing* at  the  price  of  har<l  work),  is  but  poorly  borne 
out  by  his  own  prodigal  portion  of  genius,  which 
rather  supports  Vasari's  view  that  God  makes  special 
gifts.  Very  rarely  has  any  man  received  the  native 
endowment  of  Leonardo  da  Vinci. 

The  greatest  architect  of  the  High  Renaissance 
was  Bramante  of  Urbino.  He,  like  Leonardo,  worked 
in  Milan  during  the  resplendent  reign  of  Lodo- 
vico  Sforza.  There  he  did  much  charming  work  and 
imposed  his  personality  on  Lombard  architecture ; 
but  his  great  reputation  was  made  in  Rome,  whither 
he  went,  drawn  by  the  great  Romeward  flow  of 
art,  when  the  French  invasion  drove  the  fine  arts 
from  Milan.  In  Rome,  Bramante  became  the  papal 
architect.  He  shares  with  Raphael  and  Michelangelo 
the  honour  of  making  St.  Peter's  basilica  and  the 
Vatican  palace  what  they  are.  He  also  built  a  little 
building,  whose  historical  importance  is  ludicrously 
out  of  proportion  to  its  size,  it  being  as  little  as  St. 
Peters  is  big.  It  is  a  tiny  circular  temple  in  tin-  court 
of  a  church  on  the  Janiculum  hill  across  the  Tiber. 
( )u  the  ground  floor  a  Doric  colonnade  encircles  the 
temple,  on  the  second  story  a  balustrade.  A  dome. 
capped  by  a  lantern,  covers  the  whole.  It  is  the  first 
building  which  fully  reproduced  the  style  and  spirit 
of  antiquity.  It  Bel  the  fashion  for  the  architecture 
of  the  sixteenth  century,  and  determined,  among 
other  indirect  and  not  altogether  happy  results,  the 
plan  of  St.  Paul's  Cathedral  in  London  and  the 
Capitol  in  Washington. 


•Jvs         A   SHOUT   HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

It  was  not  chance  which  took  Bramante,  Raphael, 
and  Michelangelo  to  Rome.  They  went  because  the 
papal  court,  pursuing  its  policy  of  maintaining  the 
Papacy  at  the  head  of  Christendom  by  means  of  cul- 
ture, summoned  them  to  come.  Rome  never  produced 
great  artists.  She  never  was  artistic,  any  more  than 
she  had  been  spiritual.  But  just  as  in  earlier  times 
she  had  drawrn  spiritual  forces  to  herself  and  used 
them,  so  now  she  attracted  to  herself  and  used  the 
artistic  forces  of  Italy.  She  had  been  making  ready 
for  years ;  step  by  step  as  she  had  become  more 
secular,  she  had  also  become  more  artistic,  more  in- 
tellectual. For  seventy  years  every  Pope  contributed 
to  this  end.  Eugenius  IV  employed  distinguished 
humanists  as  his  secretaries,  and  invited  the  most 
notable  painters  and  sculptors  to  Rome.  Nicholas  V 
conceived  the  splendid  scheme  of  making  Rome  the 
mistress  of  the  world's  culture.  Pius  II,  iEneas 
Sylvius  Piccolomini,  was  the  most  eminent  man  of 
letters  of  his  age.  Paul  II  was  a  virtuoso  in  objects 
of  art  and  increased  the  grandeur  of  the  papal  court. 
Sixtus  IV  improved  the  city,  built  the  Sistine  Chapel, 
and  employed  Botticelli,  Perugino,  Signorelli,  Ghir- 
landaio,  and  Rosselli  to  decorate  it.  Innocent  VIII 
brought  Mantegna  from  Padua  and  Pinturicchio 
from  Perugia  to  embellish  the  Vatican  palace.  Pope 
Borgia  made  Pinturicchio  his  court  painter;  and  that 
charming  master  decorated  the  papal  apartments  in 
the  Vatican  writh  the  great  bull  of  the  Borgia  crest, 
and  with  portraits  of  the  Pope's  children  and  (so 
Vasari  says)  of  the  lovely  Giulia  Farnese  as  the  Vir- 
gin with  the  Pope  worshipping  her. 


THE    HIGH    RENAISSANCE  289 

Popes  and  cardinals  felt  the  great  movement  and 
many  strove  to  lead  it,  but  the  master  figure  of  the 
Renaissance  at  Rome  was  the  fiery  Julius  II,  whose 
plans  in  the  arts  were  even  more  grandiose  than  in 
politics.  He  was  the  centre  of  this  period,  as  Cosimo 
and  Lorenzo  had  been  in  their  generations.  Less 
astute  than  Cosimo,  far  less  subtle  and  accomplished 
than  Lorenzo,  he  was  a  much  more  heroic  leader  than 
either.  His  hardy,  weather-beaten  face  in  Raphael's 
portrait,  with  its  strong,  well-shaped  features,  shows 
his  imperious,  arrogant,  irascible,  and  yet  noble, 
nature.  This  Pontiff  brought  to  Rome  the  greatest 
genius  of  the  Renaissance,  Michelangelo,  bade  him 
build  for  him  a  monumental  tomb,  more  splendid 
than  any  tomb  ever  built,  twelve  yards  high  and 
proportionately  wide  and  deep,  and  decked  with 
two  or  three  score  statues.  Such  a  gigantic  monu- 
ment could  not  have  found  room  in  the  old  basilica 
of  St.  Peter's,  and  therefore,  as  St.  Peter's  was  the 
proper  place  for  it,  it  became  necessary  to  proceed 
with  the  larger  plans  of  Nicholas  V.  Piecing  and 
patching  did  not  suit  Julius.  He  discussed  plans 
with  his  architects  Bramante  and  Giuliano  da  San 
Gallo,  and  then  resolved  to  pull  down  the  old  basil- 
ica, founded  by  Oonstantine  ami  Silvester,  despite 
its  thousand  years  of  Bacred  associations,  and  build 
a  new  church  in  its  place.  Bramante's  fierj  enthusi- 
asm for  greal  designs  matched  the  Pope's.  Satire 
suggested  that  in  heaven  he  would  sai  to  St.  Peter, 
"I'll  pull  down  this  Paradise  of  yours  and  build 
another,  a  much  liner  and  pleasantei  place  for  the 

blessed    saints   to    live   in."     He   designed    the    new 


290         A    SHORT   HISTORY  OF  ITALY 

church  in  the  form  of  a  Greek  cross  with  a  cupola, 
proposing,  as  it  were,  to  lift  the  dome  of  the  Pan- 
theon on  the  basilica  of  Constantine,  an  enormous 
in  in  in  the  Roman  Forum.  This  gigantic  plan  be- 
fitted the  new  papal  scheme  of  making  Rome  the 
head  of  Europe  and  the  Papacy  the  head  of  culture. 
The  corner-stone  was  laid  on  April  18, 150G,  and  the 
old  building  was  demolished  piecemeal,  the  choir 
first,  the  nave  last ;  and  in  its  place,  as  demolition 
proceeded  bit  by  bit,  the  cathedral  now  standing  rose, 
slowly  lifting  its  great  bulk  in  the  air,  and  finally 
reached  completion  and  consecration  in  1G2G.  The 
greatest  architects  of  Italy  succeeded  one  another 
as  masters  of  the  works,  Bramante,  Giuliano  da  San 
Gallo  from  Florence,  Fra  Giocondo  from  Verona, 
Raphael,  Antonio  da  San  Gallo  the  younger,  Bal- 
dassarre  Peruzzi  from  Siena,  and  Michelangelo,  who, 
when  an  old  man,  took  charge  and  designed  the 
dome. 

The  Vatican  was  altered  according  to  Bramante's 
plans  in  order  to  make  it  a  fit  abode  for  the  head  of 
cultured  Christendom  :  Michelangelo  painted  his  fres- 
coes on  the  ceiling  of  the  Sistine  Chapel  (1508-12) ; 
and  Raphael  began  to  paint  the  stanza  della  segna- 
tura.  Raphael,  the  most  charming  figure  in  the 
world  of  art,  was  equally  charming  in  life.  Vasari 
says :  "  Among  his  exceptional  gifts  I  take  notice  of 
one  of  such  rare  excellence  that  I  marvel  within  my- 
self. Heaven  gave  him  power  in  our  art  to  produce 
an  effect  most  contrary  to  the  humours  of  us  paint- 
ers, and  it  is  this  :  the  artists  and  artisans  (I  do  not 
refer  only  to  those  of  meaner  sort,  but  to  those  who 


THE    HIGH   RENAISSANCE  291 

are  ambitious  to  be  great  —  and  art  produces  many 
of  this  complexion)  who  worked  in  his  atelier  were 
so  united  and  had  such  mutual  good-will,  that  all 
jealousy  and  crossness  were  extinguished  on  seeing 
him,  and  every  mean  and  spiteful  thought  vanished 
from  their  minds.  Such  unity  was  never  seen  before. 
And  this  was  because  they  were  overcome  both  by 
his  courtesy  and  his  art,  but  more  by  the  genius  of 
his  good  nature,  which  was  so  full  of  kindness  and 
overflowing  with  charity,  that  not  only  men,  but 
even  the  beasts  almost  worshipped  him." 

At  this  time,  too,  classic  art,  owing  to  the  discov- 
ery of  antique  statues,  had  its  fullest  effect.  The 
Nile,  now  in  the  Vatican,  had  been  found  in  a  Roman 
garden,  the  Apollo  Belvedere  in  a  vineyard  near  the 
city,  and  the  Laocoon  and  many  others  here  and 
there.  Of  the  discovery  of  the  Laocoon  a  record  re- 
mains. "I  was  at  the  time  a  boy  in  Rome,"  wrote 
Francesco,  son  of  Giuliano  da  San  Gallo,  the  archi- 
tect, '*  when  one  day  it  was  announced  to  the  Pope 
that  some  excellent  statues  had  been  dug  up  out  of 
the  ground  in  a  grape-patch  near  the  church  of  Santa 
Maria  Maggiore.  The  Pope  immediately  sent  a  groom 
to  Giuliano  da  San  Gallo  to  tell  him  to  go  directly 
and  Bee  what  it  was.  Michelangelo  Buonarroti  was 
often  .it  our  house,  and  at  the  moment  chanced  to  be 
there:  accordingly  my  father  invited  him  to  accom- 
pany ii--.  I  roil.-  behind  my  lather  on  liis  horse,  and 
thus  we  went  over  to  the  place  designated.     We  had 

scarcely  dismounted  and  glanced  at  the  figures,  when 

my   father   cried   out,   'It    i>    the   LaoCOOO    of   which 

Pliny  Bpeaks  I '   The  labourers  immediately  began 


292         A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

digging  to  get  the  statue  out;  after  having  looked 
at  them  very  carefully,  we  went  home  to  supper,  talk- 
ing all  the  way  of  antiquity."  l 

Thus  these  various  forces  —  the  discovery  of  an- 
tique statues,  the  passion  for  art,  the  eager  Italian 
intellect,  the  conception  of  Rome  as  the  mistress  of 
culture,  the  character  of  Julius  II  and  the  genius  of 
Bramante,  Michelangelo,  and  Raphael  —  worked  to- 
gether to  cover  the  Papacy  with  a  pagan  glory  in  its 
time  of  religious  need.  On  the  other  hand,  as  these 
monumental  works  required  vast  sums  of  money,  the 
sale  of  indulgences  and  the  exaction  of  tribute  buzzed 
on  more  rapidly  than  ever. 

Leo  X  (1513-21)  has  given  his  name  to  this  age 
of  papal  culture,  but  he  was  not  entitled  to  the  hon- 
our ;  he  had  the  inborn  Medicean  interest  and  en- 
joyment in  intellectual  matters,  a  nice  taste,  and  some 
delicacy  of  perception,  but  it  needs  no  more  than  a 
look  at  his  fat  jowl  in  Raphael's  portrait  to  see  that 
he  could  not  have  been  a  motive  force  in  a  great 
period.  He  stands  on  an  historic  eminence  as  the 
last  Pope  to  wield  the  Italian  sceptre  over  all  Europe, 
the  last  to  send  his  tax-collectors  from  Sicily  to  Eng- 
land, from  Spain  to  Norway,  the  last  to  enjoy  the  full 
heritage  of  Imperial  Rome. 

1  Rome  and  the  Renaissance,  from  the  French  of  Julian  Klaczko, 
p.  93. 


CHAPTER  XXIX 

ITALY  AND  THE  CATHOLIC  REVIVAL  (1527-1563) 

AVe  have  now  come  to  the  beo;innin<r  of  loner  cen- 
tnries  of  national  degradation,  and  one  has  a  general 
sense  of  passing  from  a  glorious  garden  into  a  series 
of  gas-lit  drawing-rooms,  somewhat  over-decorated, 
where  naughty  princes  amuse  themselves  with  baga- 
telles. We  must  glance  at  the  political  degradation 
first. 

The  struggle  between  the  Barbarians  of  France 
and  Spain  for  mastery  in  Italy,  of  which  we  spoke 
in  the  last  political  chapter,  was  practically  decided 
by  the  battle  of  Pavia  (1525),  in  which  the  French 
king  lost  all  but  life  and  honour.  France  was  most 
reluctant  to  acquiesce  in  defeat,  and  from  time  to 
time  marched  her  troops  across  the  Alps  into  unfor- 
tunate Piedmont,  sometimes  of  her  own  notion,  and 
sometimes  at  the  invitation  of  an  Italian  state;  but 
the  Spanish  grip  was  too  strong  to  be  shaken  off. 
From  this  time  on  Italian  politics  were  determined 
by  the  pleasure  of  foreign  longs.  Two  treaties  be- 
tween Frame  and  Spain,  that  of  Camhrai  (1529) 
and  that  of  Cateau-Cambresis  |  L559),  embodied  the 
results  of  their  bargains  and  their  wars.  The  sum 
and  substance  of  them  was  a  practical  abandonment 

by  France  <it  her  Italian  claims,  and  the  map  of  Italy 

was  drawn  to  suit  Spain. 


294         A   SHORT   HISTORY  OF  ITALY 

Milan  was  governed  by  Spanish  governors,  Naples 
and  Sicily  by  Spanish  viceroys.  The  business  of  a 
Spanish  viceroy,  then  as  always,  was  to  raise  money- 
Taxes  were  oppressive.  It  was  said  that  in  Sicily 
the  royal  officials  nibbled,  in  Naples  they  ate,  and  in 
Milan  they  devoured.  In  addition  to  regular  taxes, 
special  imposts  were  laid  on  various  occasions, — 
when  a  new  king  succeeded  to  the  throne,  when  a 
royal  heir  was  born,  when  war  was  waged  against 
the  Lutherans  in  Germany  or  the  pirates  in  Africa. 
In  the  south,  where  the  people  were  less  intelligent 
and  laborious,  oppressive  taxation  and  unwise  gov- 
ernment caused  a  gradual  increase  of  ignorance  and 
poverty,  and  left  as  a  legacy  to  the  present  day  the 
conditions  from  which  spring  the  Mafia  of  Sicily  and 
the  Oamorra  of  Naples. 

In  Florence  the  sagacious  Cosimo  I  (1537-74) 
ruled  with  prudence  and  severity.  He  understood 
that  his  position  depended  on  his  fidelity  to  Spain 
and  the  Papacy,  and  acted  accordingly.  He  married 
a  Spanish  lady,  Eleanora  of  Toledo,  daughter  to  the 
viceroy  of  Naples,  took  up  his  ducal  residence  first 
in  the  Palazzo  Vecchio,  where  there  are  many  re- 
membrances of  his  duchess,  and  afterwards  in  the 
great  palace,  begun  by  Luca  Pitti,  across  the  Arno. 
He  reduced  Siena,  once  Florence's  dangerous  rival, 
to  subjection,  and  crushed  out  the  last  traces  of 
republican  sentiment  in  his  duchy.  He  employed 
Vasari  to  design  the  Uffizi,  completed  the  edifice  that 
holds  the  Laurentian  library,  and  led  as  magnificent 
a  life  as  a  due  regard  for  his  purse  would  allow.  In 
short,  he  was  what  one  would  expect  an  unrefined 


ITALY   AND   THE   CATHOLIC    REVIVAL     295 

member  of  the  Casa  Mi  did  to  be ;  and  when  one 
recollects  that  his  grandmother,  was  a  Sforza  of 
Milan,  all  expectations  based  on  heredity  are  amply 
satisfied.  Cosimo  I  left  a  long  line  of  descendants 
to  sit  upon  his  grand-ducal  throne.  Their  marble 
effigies  at  the  head  of  the  stairway  in  the  Uffizi  tell 
their  story.  The  brutal  Sforza  vigour  and  the  ele- 
gant Medicean  astuteness  could  not  save  them  from 
sharing  in  the  general  degeneracy  that  spread  like 
a  blight  over  all  Italy.  However,  one  must  remem- 
ber that  they  did  collect  the  finest  picture  gallery  in 
the  world  and  housed  it  in  the  Uffizi  and  Pitti  palaces. 
North  of  Tuscany  the  petty  duchies  of  Ferrara, 
Urbino,  Modena,  Parma,  and  Mantua  formed  a  little 
ducal  coterie,  very  characteristic  of  the  next  two 
centuries.  The  Papacy  indeed  swallowed  up  Ferrara 
(1598)  and  Urbino  (1631),  but  the  House  of  Este 
of  Ferrara  moved  on  to  Modena,  and  remained  there 
till  Napoleon's  time.  In  Parma,  Pope  Paul  111(1534- 
50),  our  old  acquaintance  Alexander  Farnese,  a  care- 
ful father  as  well  as  a  lucky  brother,  established 
his  son  as  duke.  This  son  was  bad,  and  believed  to 
be  worse,  so  the  nobles  of  Parma  murdered  him  ; 
but   hifl   descendants  made  good  their  title,  ami  the 

little  duchy  of  Parma,  with  its  palace,  its  custom- 
house, its  barracks,  and  its  pictures,  stepped  forth  as 
one  of  the  petty  Btates  of  the  peninsula,  and  endured 

till  the  Onion  of  Italy.  (Jenoa  and  Lucca  were  per- 
mitted to  remain  republics. 

I   p  in  the  northwest   we  gei    OUT  first    definite  iin- 

tions  of  Savoy.  This  duchy,  buili  up  piecemeal,  was 
a  composite  state,  winch  Included  a  good  deal  of 


296         A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

Piedmont,  and  portions  of  what  are  now  France  and 
Switzerland,  and,  unfortunately,  lay  directly  in  the 
way  of  the  French  armies  on  their  marches  into 
Italy.  During  the  wars  of  Francis  I  and  Charles  V, 
the  Duke  of  Savoy  hopefully  attempted  to  maintain 
neutrality,  and,  in  consequence,  lost  all.  France 
deemed  it  more  convenient  to  own  her  line  of  march, 
and  annexed  Savoy  ;  and  for  twenty  years  Piedmont 
was  both  camping-ground  and  battle-ground  for  the 
contending  nations.  It  looked  as  if  Savoy  would  be 
blotted  from  the  map  of  Europe ;  but  Duke  Eman- 
uele  Filiberto  (1553-80),  Iron  Head,  an  accomplished 
soldier,  had  the  sense  to  take  the  winning  side.  He 
served  in  the  Spanish  army,  and,  in  the  Peace  of 
Cateau-Cambresis,  as  his  share  secured  the  resto- 
ration of  his  duchy.  That  portion  of  this  duke's 
policy  which  concerns  us  especially  is  that  he  gave 
Piedmont  precedence  over  his  French  and  Swiss 
provinces,  established  the  seat  of  government  at 
Turin,  put  the  university  there  and  brought  men  of 
letters  and  science,  substituted  Italian  for  Latin  in 
public  documents,  and  proclaimed  himself  an  Italian 
prince  and  Savoy  an  Italian  state.  He  gave  Savoy 
the  general  character  which  it  has  always  retained. 
He  checked  the  priests,  built  up  the  army,  reformed 
the  law,  converted  the  old  feudal  dominion  into  an 
absolute  autocracy,  and  started  his  dukedom  on  the 
course  which  ultimately  enabled  it  to  play  its  great 
part  in  the  liberation  of  Italy  in  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury. Emanuele  Filiberto  is  reputed  one  of  Italy's 
national  heroes. 

Venice  had  already  recovered  most  of  the  territo- 


ITALY    AND   THE   CATHOLIC    REVIVAL     297 

ries  on  the  mainland  of  Italy  wrenched  from  her  by 
the  League  of  Cainbrai,  but  in  the  Easl  the  Turks 
steadily  took  away  city,  island,  and  province.  After 
a  long  period  of  war,  one  gallant  exploit  gilded  the 
fortunes  of  the  losing  side.  A  league  against  the 
Turks  was  effected  between  Spain,  the  Papacy,  and 
Venice,  and  the  united  fleets,  under  the  supreme  com- 
mand of  Don  John  of  Austria,  won  the  renowned 
sea-fight  off  Lepanto  (1571) ;  but  except  for  chop- 
ping off  a  goodly  number  of  infidel  heads  and  limbs, 
little  was  accomplished.  In  this  battle  a  young  Span- 
ish soldier,  Miguel  de  Cervantes,  lost  an  arm.  Soon 
afterwards  peace  was  made  on  terms  hard  for  the 
Venetians,  but  beneficent  in  that  it  was  destined  to 
last  for  seventy  years. 

We  now  come  to  the  Papacy,  and  there,  in  ex- 
traordinary contrast  to  the  degeneration  and  decay 
all  around,  we  find  militant  vigour  and  energy.  This 
phenomenon  is  so  remarkable  that  we  must  glance 
back  at  the  perils  through  which  the  Papacy  had 
passed.  Ever  since  the  fall  of  the  Empire  (when  the 
political  union  of  Italy  and  Germany  broke  in  two) 
disruptive  forces  had  been  at  work  to  break  the 
ecclesiastical  union,  until  at  last,  in  the  pontificate 
of  Leo  X,  Martin  Luther  affixed  his  theses  con- 
cerning indulgences  to  the  door  of  the  ( lastle  ( Ihurch 
at  Wittenberg,  I  mint  the  papal  bull,  and  threw  off  his 

allegiance.    The  North  of  Europe  followed  him.    The 

record  of  the  Papacy  had  been  utter  failure  and 
worse.  It  had  Bmeared  itself  from  head  to  foot  with 
simony,  nepotism,  and  ncej  it  had  cast  religion  to 
the  winds.    No  expression  of  indignation  would  have 


298         A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

been  adequate  without  the  sack  of  Rome.  A  states- 
man might  well  have  predicted  that  all  Europe  would 
dismember  and  suppress  the  Papacy  and  adopt  a 
system  of  national  churches.  Nevertheless,  at  the  end 
of  the  century  the  Papacy  stood  erect  and  vigorous, 
shorn  indeed  of  universal  empire,  but  reestablished, 
the  Order  of  Jesus  at  its  right,  the  Holy  Inquisition 
at  its  left,  draped  in  piety  by  the  Council  of  Trent, 
and  hobnobbing  on  even  terms  with  kings.  The  pro- 
cess which  effected  this  change  is  called  the  Counter- 
reformation,  or  the  Catholic  Reaction.  That  process 
was  a  happy  blending  of  virtue,  bigotry,  and  policy. 
Borne  upward  and  onward  by  the  forces  of  reform 
and  conservatism,  the  Modern  Papacy  rose  triumphant 
on  the  ruins  of  the  Papacy  of  the  Renaissance. 

The  same  spirit  that  caused  the  Reformation  in  the 
North  started  the  Catholic  Revival  in  the  South.  A 
wave,  comparable  to  the  old  movement  for  Church 
reform  in  Hildebrand's  time,  swept  over  the  Catholic 
Church,  and  lifted  the  reformers  within  the  Church 
into  power.  The  South  emulated  the  North.  Catholic 
zeal  rivalled  Protestant  ardour.  Bigotry  followed 
zeal.  Moreover,  a  reformed  Papacy  found  ready  al- 
lies. The  logical  consequence  of  Protestantism  was 
personal  independence  in  religion,  and  the  next  logi- 
cal step  was  personal  independence  in  politics.  Pro- 
testant subjects,  more  especially  where  their  rulers 
were  Catholics,  tended  to  become  disobedient ;  and 
monarchs,  who  stood  for  absolutism  and  conserva- 
tism, found  themselves  drawn  close  to  an  absolute 
and  conservative  Pope.  The  kings  of  Spain  and  the 
Popes  of  Rome  became  friends  and  allies. 


ITALY   AND   THE   CATHOLIC   REVIVAL     299 

Within  three  years  after  the  sack  of  Rome,  Clement 
crowned  Charles  V  with  the  Imperial  crown  in  Bo- 
logna, where,  for  the  last  time  in  Italy,  proclamation 
was  made  of  a  u  Roinanorinn  Imperatoi  semper  Au- 
gustus, Mundi  totius  Dominus  ;  "  and  the  Papacy, 
strengthened  at  once  by  its  league  with  Spain, 
lifted  its  bead.  Further  strength  came  from  other 
sources.  The  brilliant  young  Spaniard,  Ignatius  Loy- 
ola, founded  the  Order  of  Jesus,  which  vowed  itself  to 
poverty,  chastity,  and  obedience  to  the  Papacy  (153-1). 
Spain,  too,  by  the  moral  effect  of  example,  procured 
the  Inquisition  for  Italy.  From  the  time  of  Innocent 
III,  the  Dominican  monks  had  had  charge  of  pre- 
serving the  purity  of  the  faith  and  of  punishing  her- 
etics, and  they  had  performed  this  function  with  what 
might  appear  to  a  sceptic  sufficient  zeal,  but  during 
the  great  racial  and  religious  struggle  in  Spain  which 
ended  in  the  capture  of  Granada,  more  zeal  was 
deemed  necessary  and  the  Spanish  Inquisition  was 
established.  Its  fame  spread  far  and  wide.  The  Span- 
ish viceroys  introduced  it  in  a  modified  form  in  Na- 
ples, and  Cardinal  Carail'a,  a  zealous  reformer,  urged 
the  need  of  Buch  an  institution  in  Rome.   The  Holy 

Office  of  Rome  was  established,  and  ('alalia  put  at  its 

head  L542  .  Heretics  were  frightened  into  conform- 
ity <>r  punished  ;  some  were  driven  <»nt  of  the  coun- 
try, a  few  were  burned  to  death.  Freedom  of  thought 
was  vigorously  attacked;  and  the  Index  Librorum 
Prohibitorum  was  decreed.  The  great  and  growing 
power  of  the  reformers  may  be  measured  by  the  Eacl 
that  the  Pope  who  sanctioned  these  great  bulwarks 


300    A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  ITALY 

of  the  papal  system  was  the  once  gay  Alexander 
Farnese,  Paul  III,  whom  we  otherwise  know  as  a 
brother  and  a  father.  The  culminating  exhibition 
of  the  power  of  the  reformers,  however,  was  in  the 
Council  of  Trent  (1545-63). 

Europe  had  been  too  long  accustomed  to  the  idea 
of  ecclesiastical  unity  to  sit  still  without  some  attempt 
at  reconciliation  between  the  Catholics  and  Protes- 
tants. It  was  hoped  that  a  Council  would  heal  all 
wounds,  smooth  all  difficulties,  and  bring  back  the 
irrevocable  past.  The  Popes,  however,  had  come  to 
regard  Councils  as  inimical  bodies  with  dangerous 
tendencies  towards  investigation  and  with  hostile 
canons,  and  were  inclined  to  take  the  risk  of  losing 
the  tainted  parts  of  Christendom  altogether,  rather 
than  make  use  of  so  perilous  an  instrument  to  recover 
them.  But  the  Emperor,  Charles  V,  was  insistent ; 
his  Empire,  as  well  as  the  Church,  was  cracked,  and 
in  great  danger  of  breaking  in  two.  The  Council 
was  convoked,  and  met  at  Trent.  The  primary 
object  was  reconciliation ;  but  everybody  knew  that 
no  reconciliation  was  possible  without  radical  re- 
forms in  the  Church,  so  the  papal  party  played  its 
cards  writh  exceeding  wariness.  The  Lutherans  did 
not  attend,  and  the  papal  party,  in  order  to  fore- 
stall practical  reforms,  plunged  into  the  compara- 
tively safe  matter  of  defining  dogma,  and  defined 
it  in  such  a  way  as  to  fence  out  all  the  Lutheran 
schismatics.  The  reformers,  nevertheless,  managed  to 
sandwich  in  between  the  definitions  of  dogma  vari- 
ous decrees  for  the  reform  of  Church  discipline.  In 
Catholic  theory  an  Ecumenical  Council  acts  under  the 


ITALY   AND   THE   CATHOLIC   REVIVAL     301 

inspiration  of  the  Holy  Ghost  ;  but  looking-  at  this 
Council  from  a  purely  secular  point  of  view,  it  is  hard 
to  find  other  guidance  than  the  quarrelling  interests 
of  Pope,  bishops,  Emperor,  Spaniards,  French,  and 
Italians.  In  fact,  the  Council  was  twice  broken  up. 
The  first  time  the  Pope,  having  taken  alarm,  declared 
the  Council  adjourned  to  Bologna.  The  second  time 
the  Lutherans,  then  at  war  with  the  Emperor, 
swooped  down  near  Trent  and  frightened  the  Coun- 
cil away-  It  met  again,  for  the  third  time.  All  hope 
of  reconciliation  with  the  Protestants  had  then  passed 
away,  and  the  Council  set  to  work  as  a  purely  Roman 
Catholic  partisan  body.  A  striking  change  of  atti- 
tude within  the  Council  showed  that  since  the  earl\ 
sessions  the  reforming  party  had  won  complete  con- 
trol. Paul  IV  (1555-59),  a  man  of  high  character, 
formerly  Cardinal  Caraffa,  head  of  the  Roman  In- 
quisition, had  promulgated  many  edicts  concerning 
reforms  ;  and  his  successor  Pius  IV,  Giovanni  Angelo 
Medici  of  Milan  (not  of  the  Florentine  family) 
(1559-66)3  who  was  Pope  during  the  final  sessions 
of  the  Council,  followed  his  lead.  Pins,  a  clever 
man  who  had  received  a  legal  training,  instead  of 
wasting  efforts  in  persuading  disputatious  bishops, 
first  made  diplomatic  arrangements  with  the  Cath- 
olic sovereigns  of  Spain,  France,  and  Austria,  and 
then  seemed  the  embodiment  of  those  arrangements 
in  decrees  b]  the  Council.  Nothing,  however,  could 
have  been  accomplished  without  the  reforming 
spirit  within  the  Church;  I'ms  removed   obstacles 

in    its    wa\    and    let    it    have    lull     play.     Stern    rules 

were  made  against  tie- corrupt  practices,  which  had 


302        A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

given  Luther  his  strength.  Canons  regulated  the 
conduct  of  the  clergy,  the  duties  of  bishops,  the 
affairs  of  monasteries  and  nunneries,  and  all  matters 
connected  with  the  great  organization  of  the  Roman 
Church.  These  reforms  came  too  late  to  affect  Pro- 
testant opinion,  but  they  rallied  the  doubting,  con- 
firmed the  faithful,  and  gave  the  Papacy  wide-reach- 
ing moral  support.  The  dogmas  of  the  Church  were 
cast  in  adamant,  and  secured  the  immense  advantage 
of  definiteness  and  fixity.  The  Council  of  Trent 
remains  the  principal  monument  of  the  Catholic 
Revival,  and  that  Revival  is  certainly  the  most  im- 
portant event  for  Italy  in  the  period  immediately 
following  the  Renaissance.  Pius  IV,  the  clever  law- 
yer, had  a  great  share  in  the  work  of  the  Council, 
but  his  most  skilful  achievement  was  to  maintain 
and  confirm  the  doctrine  of  the  subordination  of 
Councils  to  the  Papacy.  This  great  stroke,  as  well 
as  his  share  in  the  reforms,  has  won  for  him  the 
title  of  founder  of  the  Modern  Papacy. 

In  this  manner  the  Papacy  prospered  during  the 
very  generations  in  which  the  greatness  of  Italy 
dwindled  away.  The  fortunes  of  the  two  had  wholly 
parted  company.  The  Papacy,  indeed,  had  made 
itself  an  Italian  institution,  —  never  again  would  it 
seat  a  foreigner  on  the  chair  of  St.  Peter,  —  but  in 
all  other  ways  it  had  ceased  to  have  any  national 
affections.  Italy,  her  genius  faded,  her  vigour  faint, 
not  only  deprived  of  what  might  have  been  a  great 
support,  but  even  pushed  down  and  held  under  by 
the  help  of  her  own  greatest  creation,  the  Church, 
ceased  to  be  a  country.    She  had  become,  in  Metter- 


ITALY   AND   THE   CATHOLIC   REVIVAL     303 

nidi's  famous  phrase,  a  mere  geographical  expres- 
sion,   an    aggregate    of    little    states,    with    no    tie 
between  them  except  that  of  juxtaposition  and  of 
common  subservience  to  foreigners.    If  we  look  at  a 
map   drawn   at  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
we  shall  rind  the  following  political  divisions  :  — 
The  Duchy  of  Savoy, 
The  Spanish  province  of  Lombardy, 
The  Republic  of  Venice, 

The  little  Duchy  of  Parma,  under  the  Farnesi, 
The  little  Duchy  of  Mantua,  under  the  Gonzaga, 
The  little  Duchy  of  Modena,  under  the  Este  fain- 

The  little  Duchy  of  Urbino,  under  the  della  Ro- 
vere  who  had  succeeded  to  the  Montefeltri, 

The  Republic  of  Genoa, 

The  Republic  of  Lucca, 

The  Grand  Duchy  of  Tuscany,  under  the  Medici, 

The  Papal  States, 

The  Spanish  province  of  Naples, 

The  Spanish  province  of  Sicily. 

Over  them  all,  Spanish  provinces,  independent  re- 
publics, Italian  duchies,  and  Papal  States,  falls  the 
shadow  cast    by  the   royal   standard  of   Spain.     Next 

to  our  consciousness  of   that  dreaded  banner,  the 

most    vivid    impression    which    we   take   away  is   the 

contrast  between  the  rigour  of  tin-  Papacy  and  the 
weakness  of  Italv,  and  we  draw  the  necessary  in- 
ference that  the  fortunes  of  the  two  not  only  have 
wholly  parted  company,  hut  also  arc  wholly  irrecon- 
cilable. 


CHAPTER   XXX 

THE  CINQUECENTO   (16th  Centuky) 

The  Cinqnecento,  as  the  Italians  call  the  sixteenth 
century,  exhibits  in  the  arts  the  same  disintegration 
and  decay  that  we  have  found  in  the  political  life 
of  Italy.  Honesty,  independence,  genuineness  fade 
away,  and  in  their  stead  we  find  cleverness  and 
effort.  The  hijrh  tide  of  the  Renaissance  was  in 
the  pontificate  of  Julius  II,  but  the  flood  lingered 
on  at  the  full  till  1540,  and  then  the  ebb  began. 
This  is  the  date  which  the  famous  German  scholar 
and  critic,  Jakob  Burckhardt,  assigns  as  the  limit  of 
the  Golden  Age ;  and  it  is  interesting  to  find  how 
closely  it  corresponds  with  the  political  dates  which 
marked  the  establishment  of  the  new  political  order 
in  Italy.  In  1530  Florence  was  definitely  handed 
over  to  the  Medici ;  in  1535  the  duchy  of  Milan 
was  annexed  to  Spain  ;  in  1540  the  Pope  sanctioned 
the  Order  of  Jesus  ;  in  1542  he  established  the  Holy 
Office  in  Rome  ;  in  1543  he  accepted  the  scheme  of 
an  Index  Librorum  Prohibitorum ;  and  in  1545 
the  Council  of  Trent  was  opened. 

The  change  from  maturity  to  decay  was  all-per- 
vasive ;  yet  it  was  slow,  and  a  period  of  excellence 
and  good  taste  intervened  between  the  High  Re- 
naissance and  the  Baroque.  This  process  is  most 
clearly  marked  in  architecture.    During  the    High 


THE   CIXQUECENTO  305 

Renaissance  dignity  was  law,  the  grand  manner 
dominated,  and  charm  determined  subordinate  parts. 
Domes  were  noble,  loggias  elegant,  pilasters  decora- 
tive, cornices  well  proportioned,  ceilings  splendid. 
After  15-10  indications  of  decline  appeared  ;  but  this 
fading  brilliance  was  a  kind  of  (/<>(/<  rddmrm  rung, 
and,  though  it  heralded  the  Baroque,  displayed  at 
times  a  purity  of  detail  and  a  noble  restraint  worthy 
of  the  earlier  period. 

Of  the  architects  of  this  intervening  stage  the 
greatest  was  Giacomo  Barozzi,  surnamed  Yignola 
after  the  little  town  where  he  was  born  in  the  prov- 
ince of  Modena.  He  was  a  man  of  theories,  had 
great  knowledge  of  classical  architecture,  and  wrote 
a  manual  on  the  architectural  orders  which  enjoyed 
great  authority  for  two  centuries  and  more.  He 
built  various  buildings  at  Bologna,  and  designed  a 
gigantic  palace  at  Piacenza  for  the  Farnesi,  the 
ducal  children  of  Alexander  Farnese,  Paul  III.  and 
nephews  of  the  beautiful  Giulia.  The  art  of  making 
gardens,  of  using  cypress  trees,  greensward,  pools, 
terraces,  and  clumps  of  ilex  as  joint  partners  with 
stone,  brick,  and  stucco,  in  one  artistic  whole,  had 
come  into  being  in  the  sixteenth  century  ;  and  Vig* 
nola  was  one  of  the  masters  of  this  new  art.  Be  de- 
signed the  Farnese  gardens  on  the  Palatine  Hill, 
since  destroyed  by  time,  neglect,  subsequent  owners, 

and  eager  archsBOlogistS.     He  was  an   artist  of  great 

ideas,  and  sometimes  caught  the  grand  manner.  (  Mi 
the  other  hand,  he  also  helped  to  bring  on  the  Ba- 
roque. Bis  famous  church  at  Home,  the  Gesu,  de- 
spite its  vast,  high-arching   nave,  lent  itself  with 


30G         A   SHORT  HISTORY  OF   ITALY 

fatal  facility  to  a  gorgeous  hideousness  of  decora- 
tion, and  set  the  fashion  for  many  imitative  Jesuit 
churches,  which  caught  the  hideous  gorgeousness 
but  missed  the  grandeur  of  their  exemplar.  He  had 
an  important  part  in  building  the  Villa  di  Papa 
Gfiulio  (Pope  Julius  III),  a  little  outside  the  city 
walls,  charming  in  its  grace,  its  variety,  and  its  suc- 
cession of  arcades,  courts,  loggias,  balustrades,  grotto, 
terrace,  and  garden. 

The  next  in  rank,  Bartolommeo  Ammanati  of 
Florence,  may  be  called  the  court  architect  of  Duke 
Cosimo  I.  He  built  two  bridges  across  the  Arno, 
the  Ponte  alia  Carraia  and  the  Ponte  Santa  Trinita, 
finished  the  main  body  of  the  Pitti  Palace,  origi- 
nally designed  by  Brunelleschi,  and  completed  the 
elaborate  Boboli  garden,  the  pleasure  grounds  be- 
hind the  palace.  He  also  was  drawn  to  Rome  at  the 
behest  of  villa-building  Popes,  and  had  a  share  in 
elaborating  the  plans  of  the  Villa  of  Papa  Giulio. 
Giorgio  Vasari,  architect,  painter,  biographer,  de- 
signed the  Uffizi  at  Florence,  painted  many  indiffer- 
ent pictures,  and  wrote  "  Lives  of  the  Painters," 
a  garrulous,  discursive,  inaccurate,  and  delightful 
book.  Galeazzo  Alessi  of  Perugia  built  the  stately, 
tourist-haunted  palaces  of  Genoa,  once  occupied  by 
opulent  merchants,  and  also  the  gigantic  church  of 
S.  Maria  degli  Angeli,  which  covers  the  Portiuncula 
of  St.  Francis,  like  a  bowl  turned  over  a  forget-me- 
not.  Jacopo  Tatti  Sansovino  of  Florence  was  the 
architect  of  many  noble  buildings  in  Venice.  Andrea 
Palladio  of  Vicenza  embodied  his  passionate  love  of 
classical  architecture  in  palaces  and  churches  in  his 


THE   CIXQUECENTO  307 

native  town  and  in  Venice.  During  the  revival  of 
classic  enthusiasm  in  the  eighteenth  century  Palladio 
became  a  demi-god.  The  captivated  Goethe,  as  soon 
as  he  arrived  at  Vicenza.  hurried  to  see  the  Palla- 
dian  palaces.  "  When  we  stand  face  to  face  with 
these  building's,  then  we  first  realize  their  great  ex- 
cellence; their  bulk  and  massiveness  iill  the  eye, 
while  the  lovely  harmony  of  their  proportions,  ad- 
mirable in  the  advance  and  retreat  of  perspective, 
brings  peace  to  the  spirit."  In  Venice,  he  says, 
"  Before  all  things  I  hastened  to  the  Carita  .  .  . 
Alas  !  scarcely  a  tenth  part  of  the  edifice  is  finished. 
However,  even  this  part  is  worthy  of  that  heavenly 
genius.  .  .  .  One  ought  to  pass  whole  years  in  the 
contemplation  of  such  a  work." 

These  men  and  their  rivals  kept  alive  the  tradi- 
tions of  the  great  period;  nevertheless,  in  course  of 
time  Btiltedness  and  exaggeration  usurped  the  place 
of  elegance  and  force.  A  servile  imitation  of  Roman 
models,  an  absolute  acceptance  of  classical  correct- 
ness, prevailed;  the  classic  orders,  especially  the  Co- 
rinthian, spread  themselves  everywhere;  in  one  place 
barren  ami  formal  simplicity  obtruded  itself,  in  an- 
other pretentious  magnificence.  After  1580  the  tran- 
sition is  complete  j  the  baroque  triumphs ;  .sham  tyr- 
annizes, wood  ami  plaster  mimic  stone,  columns  tu  igj 
themselves  awryj  monstrous  scrolls,  heavy  mould- 
ings, crazy  statues,  gilt  deformities,  and  all  the  con- 
tortions tu  which  Btuccoand  othercohesive  Bubstances 

will  Bubmit,  bang  and  cling  everywhere,  inside  and 

out.  Bat  this  is  to  anticipate,  for  the  lull  revel  of  the 
Baroque  takes  place  in  the  seventeenth  century, 


808         A    SHOET   HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

The  same  degeneration  prevailed  in  sculpture. 
Michelangelo,  in  his  statues  in  the  Medicean  chapel 
at  Florence,  "  Night "  and  "  Day,"  "  Evening  "  and 
"Dawn"  (1529-34),  had  achieved  the  utmost  which 
thought  and  emotion  could  express  in  marble.  They 
stand,  pillars  set  up  by  Hercules,  at  the  end  of  the 
noble  sculpture  of  the  Renaissance.  His  successors 
tried  to  imitate  him,  in  vain  ;  they  produced  bulk,  or 
writhing  or  distortion.  Yet  some  men  of  this  period 
did  excellent  work  :  Benvenuto  Cellini,  delicate  gold- 
smith, and  sculptor  of  the  Florentine  Perseus ;  John 
of  Bologna,  who  modelled  the  Flying  Mercury ;  Tad- 
deo  Landini  of  Florence,  who  designed  the  charming 
fountain  in  Rome,  in  which  several  boys  are  boost- 
ing turtles  into  a  basin  above  ;  Bandinelli,  whose  big 
statues  are  familiar  in  Florence,  "a  man  strangely 
composed,"  as  Burckhardt  says,  "  of  natural  talent, 
of  reminiscence  of  the  old  school,  and  of  a  false  origi- 
nality which  carried  him  beyond  a  disregard  of  nicety 
even  to  grossness."  After  these  men  and  a  few  others, 
sculpture  followed  architecture  in  its  facile  descent 
into  the  Baroque,  and  expressed  itself  in  prophets, 
saints,  and  Popes,  who  stand  in  swaying  and  vacil- 
lating postures  in  nave  and  aisle,  on  roof  and  balus- 
trade. These  decadent  sculptors  strictly  belong  to 
the  next  century ;  they  are  but  heralded  by  the  last 
works  of  the  Cinquecento. 

In  painting,  too,  the  same  story  is  repeated  all 
over  Italy.  In  Florence  after  the  close  of  the  High 
Renaissance  twilight  darkened  rapidly.  There  are 
few  artists  of  note  except  two  fashionable  portrait 
painters,  Pontormo  and  Bronzino,  who  display  the 


THE   CIXQUECENTO  309 

characteristics  of  the  period.  Bronzino's  picture  of 
the  Descent  of  Christ  into  Hades  almost  justifies 
Buskin's  comment,  a  "  heap  of  cumbrous  nothingness 
and  sickening  oifensiveness ; "  on  the  other  hand, 
Pontormo's  decorations  in  the  o-reat  hall  of  the 
Medicean  Villa  at  Poggio  a  Caiano  are  as  graceful, 
gay,  and  charming  as  can  well  be  imagined.  After 
them  in  dreary  succession  come  the  decadent  painters, 
who  painted  figures  bigger  and  bigger  in  would-be 
Michelangelesque  attitudes,  as  may  be  seen  in  one 
of  the  rooms  of  the  Belle  Art  I  in  Florence.  Else- 
where, also,  the  generation  bred  under  the  great  mas- 
ters faded  away,  —  the  sweet  Luini  of  Milan,  Leo- 
nardo's follower;  the  facile  Giulio  Romano, Raphael's 
pupil ;  the  beauty-loving  Sodoma  of  Siena  ;  the  ro- 
mantic Dosso  Dossi  of  Ferrara.  These  names  show 
how  loath  the  genius  of  painting  was  to  leave  Italy, 
but  she  obeyed  fate;  and,  at  the  end  of  tin-  cen- 
tury, we  have  the  Caracci  beginning  to  paint  in 
Bologna,  and  Caravaggio  (1569-1609)  in  Naples. 
It  needs  but  a  glance  at  these  later  pictures  to  see 
what  a  change  had  come  over  the  Bpiril  of  beauty 
during  the  hundred  years  since  Botticelli  painted 
Venus  fresh  from  the  salt  sea  foam. 

In  literature,  also,  at  the  opening  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  we  had  the  historian,  Guicciardini ;  the  po- 
litical writer,  Maehiavelh  ;  the  poet,  A  riosto  ;  the  cul- 
tivated Castiglione:  at  die  end  we  have  the  pathetic 
figure  of   Torquato  Tasso  (1544  95),  who  Btands 

drooping,  like  a  symbol  of  Italy.  Tasso  is  always  in- 
scribed in  text-hooks  as  one  of  the  four  greatest  Ital- 
ian poet-,  ami  it  would  he  useless  and  impertinent  to 


310        A   SHORT  HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

dispute  the  concordant  testimony  of  many  witnesses. 
Byron  apostrophizes  him,  "  0  victor  unsurpassed  in 
modern  BODg  ;  "  yet  one  with  difficulty  avoids  think- 
ing that  his  sad  story  has  added  to  the  beauty  of  his 
poetry  and  heightened  his  reputation. 

Torquato  Tasso  was  the  last  great  genius  of  the  Ital- 
ian Renaissance,  and  stands  there  facing  the  oncom- 
ing decadence  in  gifted  helplessness;  he  had  many 
talents,  a  noble  nature,  a  melancholy  temperament, 
and  a  weak  character.  In  boyhood  his  religious 
emotions  and  his  intellectual  faculties  were  both  over- 
stimulated.  His  story  is  a  medley  of  court  favour, 
success,  rivalry,  suspicion.  His  home  was  Ferrara, 
but  he  wandered  about,  as  a  sick  person  seeks  to 
ease  his  body  by  changing  posture.  Early  forcing 
and  some  natural  weakness  combined  to  bring  too 
great  a  strain  upon  his  mind,  which  gave  way,  and 
the  unfortunate  man  was  put  in  a  madhouse  by  his 
patron,  the  Duke  of  Ferrara.  He  was  confined  for 
seven  years,  but  not  ill  treated.  He  died  in  the  mon- 
astery of  Sant'  Onofrio  on  the  Janiculum  at  Rome, 
where  tourists  stop  to  gaze  at  the  poor  remnant  of 
an  oak  tree,  under  whose  shade  he  used  to  sit.  Car- 
ducci,  the  great  poet,  says  :  "  Italy's  great  literature, 
the  living,  national,  and  at  the  same  time,  human 
literature,  with  which  she  reconciled  Antiquity  and 
the  Middle  Ages,  and,  in  a  Roman  way,  represented 
a  renewed  Europe,  ended  with  Tasso."  His  sad 
story  is  a  fitting  epilogue  to  the  Italian  Renaissance. 

This  general  course  of  ascent,  culmination,  and 
decline  holds  true  even  of  Venice,  except  in  chrono- 
logy ;  for  Venice  preserved  her  independence  from 


THE  CINQUECEXTO  311 

the  normal  Italian  experience  almost  as  resolutely 
in  the  arts  as  in  politics.  She  produced  no  liter- 
ature, piqued  perhaps  because  Italy  had  taken  the 
Tuscan  dialect  rather  than  hers  for  the  national 
language  ;  but  in  the  arts,  after  decay  had  elsewhere 
set  in,  she  bloomed  in  the  fulness  of  perfection,  as 
late  roses  blossom  when  other  bushes  show  nothing: 
but  hips.  Of  her  individual  career  a  few  words  must 
be  said. 

In  architecture  and  sculpture,  the  Lombardi,  a 
Venetian  family  probably  from  Lombardy,  nour- 
ished for  nearly  a  hundred  years  (1452-1537),  and 
left  their  mark  on  Venice,  in  tombs  and  statues, 
in  churches  and  palaces.  Contemporary  with  the 
last  generation  of  Lombardi  came  the  more  gifted 
Alessandro  Leopardi,  who  completed  the  great 
statue  of  Colleoni  designed  by  Verrocchio,  and  gave 
a  new  impulse  to  Venetian  sculpture.  While  the 
Tuscan  sculptors  had  been  studying  Roman  re- 
mains, the  Isles  of  Greece  had  been  giving  Greek 
models  to  their  Venetian  conquerors,  and  Leopard] 
in  particular  profited  greatly  by  them.     In  the  sister 

art  the  first  famous  architect  after  the  Lombardi  was 
the  Florentine,  Jacopo  Sansovino,  who  spent  most 
of  a  long  life  m  Venice,  where  be  built  the  Zecca, 

the  Loggetta,  the  Libreria  Veeehia  i  the  ( )ld  Library  ), 

and  also  the  Scalad"  Oro  (the  Golden  Stairway 
the  ducal  palace.   Sanmicheli,a  military  engineer,  as 

well    BS   B    builder  of   palaces,  came  from   Verona   to 

work  in  Venice.  Palladio  (1508  80),  of  whom  ire 
have  spoken,  came  from  V  icenza,  and  bequeathed  bis 

name  to  the  Deo-classio  Btyle,  known  as  Palladia!!. 


312    A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  ITALY 

In  painting  first  came  the  famous  Bellini  fam- 
ily, Jacopo  1 1400-64:?)  and  his  two  sons,  Gentile 
and  the  more  gifted  Giovanni,  painter  of  tenderest 
Madonnas ;  after  them  came  Carpaccio,  painter  of 
St.  Jerome  and  his  lion,  and  of  St.  George  and  his 
dragon.  Then  followed  in  rapid  succession  the  most 
gifted  group  of  painters  that  ever  lived  together,  all 
born  within  twenty  years  of  one  another,  as  if  to 
prove  how  prodigally  Nature  could  endow  a  petty 
province  that  had  the  luck  to  please  her :  Giorgione, 
from  Castelfranco  on  the  Venetian  mainland,  of 
highest  fame  and  disputed  pictures ;  Titian,  of  Ca- 
dore,  noblest  of  portrait  painters ;  Palma  Vecchio, 
of  Bergamo,  creator  of  the  most  glorious  of  animals, 
the  superb  Venetian  women  ;  Sebastiano  del  Piombo, 
who  painted  the  Fornarina  of  the  Uffizi  Gallery  long 
attributed  to  Raphael,  and  deserved  his  fortune  of 
being  pupil  to  Giorgione  and  friend  to  Michelan- 
gelo ;  Lorenzo  Lotto,  of  Bergamo,  another  painter 
of  exquisite  women,  high-bred  men,  noble  saints,  and 
poetical  angels ;  Giovanni  Antonio  da  Pordenone,  in- 
ferior only  to  Titian  ;  Bonifazio  from  Verona,  painter 
of  patrician  luxury;  Paris  Bordone,  of  Treviso,  so 
uncertain  in  merit,  yet  at  his  best  so  rich  in  hue,  so 
tender  in  sentiment,  so  admirable  in  his  pictures  of 
Venetian  ceremonial ;  and  at  the  close,  the  giant  Tin- 
toretto (1512-94)  and  Paolo  Veronese  (1528-88)  the 
glorious :  all,  though  in  different  degrees,  splendid 
in  colour,  voluptuous  ministers  to  the  sensuous  eye. 
This  cluster  of  names  serves  to  show  that  while  else- 
where in  Italy  art  was  dwindling  into  mannerism  and 
exaggeration,  Venice  put  forth  an  extraordinary  burst 


THE   CIXQUECENTO  313 

of  pictorial  magnificence;  yet  even  in  Venice  at 
the  end  of  the  century  none  of  the  great  men  were 
left. 

The  reason  for  this  decadence  of  the  arts  from 
their  splendour  in  the  early  decades  of  the  century 
is  not  easy  to  assign;  no  one  can  say  whj  genius 
spurts  up  in  one  spot  or  in  one  individual,  why  the 
brilliant  Italian  race  should  have  achieved  BO  many 
masterpieces  and  then  have  become  ineffectual. 
One  can  merely  notice,  whether  as  a  cause  or  an 
accompanying  phenomenon,  that,  with  individual 
exceptions,  —  no  man  could  be  nobler  than  Michel- 
angelo, —  Italy  of  the  High  Renaissance  was  a  great 
moral  failure.  In  intellectual  achievement  the  Italians 
eclipsed  the  world  ;  in  morality  they  stumbled  about 
like  blind  men.  This  lack  of  morality  finds  its 
fullest  expression,  at  least  its  most  conspicuous  ex- 
pression, at  the  very  time  of  the  culmination  of  the 
arts.    Let  me  illustrate. 

The  night  that  the  Duke  of  Gandia,  son  of  Pope 
Borgia,  was  murdered  in  Rome  (1497),  a  wood- 
seller,  living  beside  the  Tiber,  saw  several  men  come 
cautiously  to  the  river.  They  peered  about  and  made 
a  Bign  to  some  one  behind.  Dp  came  a  horseman, 
with  a  dead  body  Lying  across  his  horse's  back,  head 
and  heels  dangling  down;  the  horse  was  tuned 
rump  to  the  river,  and  two  men  <>n  foot  Beized  the 
body  and  Hung  it  into  the  water.  The  wood-seller 
was  asked  why  he  had  uot  reported  the  fact.  He 
answered  that  he  had  seen  some  hundred  bodies 
thrown  into  the  river  at  that  spot,  and  had  never 

heard    any    inquiries    made.     The    duke's    brother. 


314        A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

Csesar,  was  at  the  time  believed  to  have  done  the 
deed,  but  evidence  fails. 

The  same  Caesar  Borgia,  bearing  the  somewhat 
ambitious  motto  Aut  Ccesar  out  nihil,  energetic, 
ruthless,  vigorous,  ingenious,  and  plausible,  embodied 
the  Italian  conception  of  what  a  political  leader 
should  be  ;  so  much  so,  that  Machiavelli,  the  great- 
est of  Italian  political  writers,  cites  him  as  a  model. 
Machiavelli  was  a  patriot,  animated  by  real  love  of 
his  country,  but  he  was  free  from  our  conceptions 
of  morality,  or  perhaps  sceptical  of  Italian  virtue, 
and  believed  that  the  achievement  of  liberating  Italy 
from  foreign  tyranny  could  only  be  accomplished 
by  the  qualities  of  an  Iago.  In  the  chapter  in  "  The 
Prince"  entitled  "  In  what  manner  Princes  should 
keep  faith,"  he  says :  "  How  praiseworthy  it  is  for 
a  Prince  to  keep  faith,  to  practise  integrity  and 
eschew  trickery,  everybody  knows ;  nevertheless, 
within  our  own  lifetime  and  our  own  experience,  we 
know  that  those  Princes  have  done  great  things 
who  have  made  small  account  of  good  faith  and 
have  known  how  to  turn  men's  heads  by  means  of 
trickery,  and  in  the  end  have  surpassed  those  who 
planted  themselves  on  loyalty.  .  .  .  Therefore  a 
prudent  lord  ought  not  to  keep  faith,  when  keep- 
ing faith  would  make  against  him,  and  the  reasons 
which  made  him  promise  are  no  more.  If  men  were 
all  good  this  precept  would  not  be  good ;  but  as 
they  are  bad  and  would  not  keep  faith  with  you, 
you,  too,  ought  not  to  keep  faith  with  them ;  and  a 
Prince  will  never  lack  legitimate  reasons  to  colour 
the  breach.  ...  I  shall  even  make  bold  to  say  this, 


THE   CIXQUECEMO  315 

that  to  have  certain  moral  qualities  and  always  ob- 
serve them  is  bad,  but  to  seem  to  have  them  is  good  ; 
as  to  seem  to  be  pious,  faithful,  kind,  religious, 
honest,  or  even  to  be  so,  provided  your  mind  be  so 
adjusted  that,  in  case  of  need,  you  will  know  how 
to  be  the  opposite.  For  you  must  know  that  a 
Prince,  and  especially  a  newly  crowned  Prince,  can- 
not do  all  the  things  for  which  men  are  esteemed 
good,  for,  in  order  to  maintain  the  state  they  are 
often  obliged  to  act  contrary  to  humanity,  contrary 
to  charity,  contrary  to  religion  ;  therefore,  he  must 
have  a  mind  prompt  to  veer  with  the  wind  and  the 
fluctuations  of  fortune ;  and,  as  I  have  said,  not 
to  forsake  the  good,  if  may  be,  but  to  know  how  to 
cleave  to  evil,  if  he  must." 

Another  illustration  shall  be  the  life  of  Pietro 
Aretino  (1492—1557),  born  the  child  of  an  artist's 
model  in  a  hospital  at  Arezzo,  who,  by  wit  and  in- 
finite impudence,  by  toadying,  bullying,  and  black- 
mail, worked  his  way  to  such  a  position  that  he 
could  say,  "  Without  serving  courts  1  have  compelled 
the  great  world,  dukes,  princes,  kings,  to  pay  tribute 
to  my  genius."  Once  a  pious  lady,  the  Marchess  di 
Pesaro,  remonstrated  with  him  upon  his  life,  ami  bade 
him  mend  his  ways.  He  wrote  hack:  "  I  must  say 
that  I  am  not  less  useful  to  the  world,  or  Less  pleasing 
to  Jesus,  spending  my  vigils  upon  trifles  than  it  1 
had  employed  them  on  works  of  piety.  Bui  why  do 
I  do  this?  II'  princes  were  as  devoul  as  I  am  needy, 
my  pen  would  write  nothing  but  misereres.  .  .  . 
Lei   ii>  Bee.    I  have  a  friend  named  Brucioli,  who 

dedicated    his    translation   of   the   Bible   to   the   Mo8l 


310         A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

Christian  King-  [of  France].  Four  years  passed  and 
he  got  no  answer.  On  the  other  hand,  my  comedy, 
1  The  Courtesan,'  Avon  a  rich  necklace  from  this 
same  king ;  so  that  my  Courtesan  would  have  felt 
tempted  to  make  fun  of  the  Old  Testament,  if  that 
were  not  a  trifle  unbecoming.  Forgive  me  lady  for 
the  jests  I  have  written,  not  from  malice,  but  for  a 
livelihood.  All  the  world  does  not  possess  the 
inspiration  of  divine  grace.  Music  and  comedy  are 
to  us  what  prayer  and  preaching  are  to  you.  May 
Jesus  grant  you  His  grace  to  get  for  me  from 
Sebastiano  di  Pesaro  [her  husband  ?]  the  rest  of 
the  money  of  which  I  have  only  received  thirty 
scudi ;  for  this  I  am  in  anticipation  your  debtor." 
Of  Pietro  Aretino  a  recent  Italian  critic  says  :  "  His 
memory  is  infamous ;  no  gentleman  would  mention 
his  name  before  a  lady."  Yet,  perhaps,  we  may 
doubt  if  he  was  peculiarly  bad ;  he  possessed  the 
cynical  views  of  morality  current  at  the  time.  Are- 
tino made  a  fortune,  received  knighthood  from  the 
Pope,  nearly  obtained  a  cardinal's  hat,  and  was 
painted  by  Titian. 

The  following  anecdote  is  taken  from  the  auto- 
biography of  the  famous  goldsmith  and  sculptor, 
Benvenuto  Cellini  (1500-71).  He  was  travelling 
on  a  sort  of  canal  boat  on  his  way  from  Venice  to 
Florence.  "We  went  to  lodge  for  the  night  in  an 
inn  on  this  side  of  Chioggia,  on  the  left  as  we  were 
approaching  Ferrara.  Our  host  wished  to  be  paid, 
according  to  his  custom,  before  we  went  to  bed. 
I  told  him  that  in  other  places  it  was  the  custom  to 
pay  in  the  morning,  but  he  said,  '  I  wish  to  be  paid, 


THE   CINQUECENTO  317 

according  to  my  way,  in  the  evening.'  I  replied  that 
men  who  wanted  their  own  special  way  would  have 
to  make  a  world  to  snit  their  special  way,  because 
in  this  world  that  was  not  the  way  things  were 
done.  The  host  answered  that  I  need  not  vex  my 
wits,  for  he  wished  to  do  according  to  his  way.  M\ 
companion  was  trembling  for  fear,  and  poked  me  to 
be  quiet  lest  the  host  do  worse ;  so  we  paid  him, 
according  to  his  way,  and  went  to  bed.  We  had 
excellent  new  beds,  everything  new,  spick  and 
span ;  in  spite  of  this  I  did  not  sleep  a  wink, 
thinking  all  night  long  what  I  could  do  to  revenge 
myself ;  first  I  thought  of  setting  fire  to  the  house, 
next  of  cutting  the  throats  of  the  four  jrood  horses 
that  he  had  in  his  stable  ;  I  could  see  that  this 
would  be  easy  to  do,  but  not  how  it  would  be  easy 
for  me  and  my  companion  to  escape  afterwards. 
At  last  I  hit  on  a  plan.  In  the  morning  I  put  my 
companion  and  all  the  things  into  the  canal  boat. 
When  the  horses  were  hitched  to  the  rope  that 
pulled  the  boat,  I  said  that  they  must  not  start  the 
boat  till  I  got  back,  as  I  had  left  a  pair  of  shippers 
in  my  room.  .  .  .  When  I  got  in  the  room  I  took 
my  knife,  which  was  sharp  as  a  razor,  and  I  cut  the 
mattresses  on  the  four  beds  to  little  bits,  so  that  I 
knew  I  had  done  more  than  fifty  Bcudi  worth  of 
damage."    Throughout  a  delightful  autobiography, 

which    we   need    not    accept    too   literally,  Cellini    «\- 

hibits  a  perfectly  unmoral  disposition, a  mind  with  no 
sense  of  social  law  ami  no  reaped  for  anything  ex- 
cept Michelangelo  and  art. 
These    four    men,    Csssai    Borgia,    Machiavelli, 


818        A   SHORT   HISTORY  OF  ITALY 

Aretino,  and  Cellini,  possessed  fortitude,  energy, 
subtlety,  and  courage,  but  they  showed  no  appre- 
ciation of  the  fundamental  social  virtues,  loyalty, 
trust,  subordination  of  self  to  the  general  good ; 
and  for  this  reason  they  enable  us  to  understand 
why  Italy  fell  like  a  ripe  apple,  without  resistance, 
into  the  lap  of  foreigners  and  lay  helpless  under 
Jesuit,  inquisitor,  petty  duke,  and  Spanish  viceroy, 
and  why  freedom  to  think  and  freedom  to  act  faded 
from  art  and  intellectual  life  as  well  as  from  po- 
litical life. 


CHAPTER   XXXI 

A  SURVEY   OF  ITALY   (1680-1681) 

At  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century  Italy  is  well 
under  way  on  a  new  stretch  of  history,  which  Lasted 
until  the  nineteenth  century.  Except  Venice,  always 
individual,  and  the  Papacy,  freshly  revivified,  Italy 
has  lost  all  moral  force,  and  become  wholly  effem- 
inate. In  twenty-five  years  three  hundred  and 
twenty-six  volumes  of  sonnets  were  published.  Her 
political  life  has  become  what  one  may  call  grand- 
dncal;  her  religion  formal,  superstitious  ;  her  liter- 
ature affected,  stilted;  her  architecture  Baroque  \  her 
painting  and  sculpture  steeped  in  mannerism  and 
exaggeration.  Nevertheless,  Italy  is  Italy,  and 
has  her  own  charm,  her  own  individuality,  her  own 
coquetry.  A-  formerly  she  lured  Barbarian  nations, 
bo  now  she  lures  individual  Barbarians,  and  becomes 
the  roaming-ground  oi  travellers.   She  seems  l< 

real  country  than  a  theatre,  where  roCOCO  dukes, 
cavalier^,  and  ladies  curl  their  hair  and  powder  their 

cheeks. 

For  two  centuries  this  artificial  existence  continued. 
its  biston  is  not  to  he  found  m  the  solemn  volumes 

of   O  I    mtii.  Carlo    Botta,  Or  Other    Italian    his- 

torians, hut  in  the  journals  of  German,  French,  and 
English  travellers:  for  during  these  centuries  [tah 
was  not  a  country  in  either  a  political  or  a  sentimen- 


320         A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF  ITALY 

tal  sense ;  it  was  a  place  of  recreation  for  gentlemen 
on  the  grand  tour,  pious  folk  bound  Romeward,  vir- 
tuosi seeking  classical  remains,  and  elderly  statesmen 
hoping  to  cure  the  gout.  The  several  petty  states 
were  so  many  artificial  gardens,  where  the  peasants 
wore  pretty  costumes,  the  dukes  sang  prize  songs,  the 
duchesses  trilled  tra  la  la  in  rival  endeavour,  and  the 
ecclesiastics  trolled  out  the  chorus.  It  was  the  Ital- 
ian opera  boufie  on  the  most  charming  stage  in  the 
world.  The  best  summary  of  the  history  of  the  com- 
ing century  will  be  a  series  of  extracts  from  the  diary 
of  a  keen-witted  French  gentleman,  travelling  for 
pleasure,  Michel  de  Montaigne,  who,  in  the  company 
of  some  friends,  spent  several  months  in  Italy 
(1580-81).  They  crossed  the  Alps  over  the  Brenner 
Pass  and  went  by  way  of  Trent.  Montaigne's  diary 
is  sometimes  written  in  the  second  and  sometimes 
in  the  third  person.  He  describes  many  of  the  prin- 
cipal cities. 

Verona  (within  the  territory  of  the  Republic  of 
Venice).  "Without  health  certificates  which  they 
had  got  at  Trent  they  could  not  have  entered  the  city, 
although  there  was  no  rumour  of  any  danger  of 
pest ;  but  it  is  the  custom  (in  order  to  cheat  us  of 
the  few  pennies  they  cost).  We  went  to  see  the 
cathedral,  where  Montaigne  deemed  the  behaviour  of 
the  men  at  High  Mass  very  peculiar  ;  they  chatted 
even  in  the  choir  of  the  church,  standing  up,  with 
their  hats  on  and  their  backs  turned  to  the  altar, 
and  did  not  seem  to  pay  any  attention  to  the  ser- 
vice except  on  the  elevation  of  the  Host.  There 
were  organs   and    violins    to  accompany  the  mass. 


A   SURVEY   OF   ITALY  321 

.  .  .  We  went  to  see  the  castle  and  -were  shown 
all  over  by  the  lieutenant  in  charge.  The  [Vene- 
tian] government  keeps  sixty  soldiers  there,  rather, 
according-  to  what  they  said  to  Montaigne,  against 
the  people  of  the  city  than  against  foreigners.  We 
also  saw  a  congregation  of  monks  called  the  Gesuati 
of  St.  Jerome  [not  Jesuits].  They  are  not  priests: 
they  neither  say  mass  nor  preach;  most  of  them  are 
ignorant,  but  they  carry  on  a  business  of  distilling 
lemon-flower  water,  both  in  Verona  and  elsewhere. 
They  are  dressed  in  white,  with  little  white  caps, 
and  a  dark  brown  gown  over  it ;  good-looking  young 
men."  They  visited  the  Ghetto  (Jews'  quarter),  ami 
the  Roman  amphitheatre,  which  Montaigne  thought 
the  noblest  building  he  had  ever  seen. 

Vicenza.  "  It  is  a  big  city,  a  little  smaller  than 
Verona,  all  full  of  palaces  of  the  nobility."  The 
fair,  which  was  held  twice  a  year,  was  going  on 
upon  the  parade-ground  ;  booths  had  been  built  on 
purpose,  and  no  simps  in  the  city  were  allowed  to 
keep  open.  In  the  town  there  was  another  estab- 
lishment <>f   the  Gesuati,  selling  their  perfumes  and 

also  medicines  for  every  ailment.  "These  monks 
tell  us  that  they  whip  themselves  every  <la\  ;  each 
one     has    his    switch    at    his    post     in     the    oratory, 

where  they  meet  at  certain  bonis  of  the  day  and 
pray,  bul  they  have  no  singing.  .  .  .  The  old  wine 

has  |riv6I]   out.  which  vexed   nie,  as  it    is  nut    good   for 

me,  on  account  of  my  colic,  to  drink  the  oev  wines, 
though  they  are  vt-i\  good  in  their  way."  Prom 
Vicenza  they  journeyed  by  a  broad   straight  road. 

ditched  on  either   side  and    raised  a  little,  which  ran 


822         A   SHORT   HISTORY  OF  ITALY 

through  a  fertile  champaign  with  mountains  in  the 
distance,  to  Padua.  The  inns  here  could  not  be 
compared  with  German  inns  except  that  they  were 
cheaper  by  a  third.  "  The  streets  narrow  and  ugly, 
not  many  people,  few  handsome  houses.  We  went 
about  all  the  next  day  and  saw  the  schools  of  fen- 
cing,  dancing,  and  riding,  where  there  were  more 
than  a  hundred  French  gentlemen  together."  In 
fact,  young  men  went  in  great  numbers,  young 
Frenchmen  in  particular,  to  the  schools  of  Padua,  less 
to  acquire  a  knowledge  of  books  than  to  acquire  the 
accomplishments  which  were  then  the  mode.  One 
of  Montaigne's  party  stopped  here  and  found  good 
lodging  for  seven  crowns  a  month,  and  "  he  might 
have  lodged  a  valet  for  five  crowns  more ;  ordina- 
rily, however,  they  do  not  have  valets,  only  a  gen- 
eral servant  for  the  house,  or  else  maids ;  every  one 
has  a  nice  bedroom,  but  fire  and  lights  in  the  bed- 
room are  extra.  The  accommodation  was  very  good, 
and  you  can  live  there  very  reasonably,  and  that,  I 
think,  is  the  reason  why  many  strangers  go  there 
to  live,  even  those  who  are  not  students." 

Venice.  Here  he  dined  with  the  French  am- 
bassador "  very  well ;  "  among  other  things  "  that 
the  ambassador  told  him  this  seemed  odd,  that  he 
had  no  social  relations  whatever  with  anybody  in 
the  city,  because  the  people  were  so  suspicious  that 
a  [Venetian]  gentleman  who  should  speak  to  him 
twice  would  fall  under  distrust."  One  is  inclined, 
however,  considering  the  fate  of  Milan,  to  regard 
a  certain  distrust  of  foreigners  as  not  unnatural. 
Montaigne  thought  that  the  four  most  remarkable 


A   SURVEY   OF   ITALY  323 

things  about  Venice  were  the  situation,  the  police, 
the  Piazza  of  St.  Mark's,  and  the  crowds  of  for- 
eigners. He  received  as  a  gift  a  little  book  of 
"Letters"  from  a  Venetian  lady,  one  of  that  cele- 
brated class  of  Venetian  women  who  were  outside 
the  matrimonial  pale  yet  lived  in  ostentatious  lux- 
urv.  recognized  by  the  government  and  by  mas- 
culine society.  This  lady  at  mid-life  had  changed 
her  ways  and  devoted  herself  to  literature,  and 
hearing  of  the  famous  French  author,  sent  him  her 
book. 

Returning  by  way  of  Padua,  Montaigne  passed 
the  sulphur  springs,  frequented  in  May  and  August 
by  the  fashionable  sick,  who  took  mud  or  vapour 
baths  and  drank  the  waters.  He  noted  the  canals  ; 
the  system  of  irrigation  in  the  plains,  where  rows  of 
vine-laden  trees  intersected  fields  of  wheal  ;  the  big, 
strong,  gray  oxen  ;  the  broad  mud  flats,  once  swamps, 
which  the  government  was  struggling  to  reclaim. 

Rovigo,  a  little  town  in  Venetian  territory  near 
the  Adige.  "There  is  as  great  abundance  of  meat 
here  as  in  Fiance,  whatever  it  may  be  the  custom 
to  sav.  and  though  they  use  no  lard  for  the  roast. 
they  do  not  take  away  the  savour.  The  bedrooms, 
because  there  is  no  glass  and  they  don't  shut  the 

Windows,  are  not  so  clean  as  in  France;  the  beds 
are    better    made,   smoother,  and   well    supplied    with 

mattresses,  hut  they  have  nothing  but  coarse  cov- 
ering-, and  they  are  very  Sparing  "1'  white  she.N  ; 
if  a  man   travels  alone,  or  with    little   Btyle,  he  won't 

get  any.    It  is  about  as  dear  as  in  Prance,  or  a  little 

dearer." 


324         A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

Hr  crossed  the  Po,  as  he  had  crossed  the  Adige, 
upon  some  kind  of  pontoon  bridge,  and  went  on  to 

Ferrara  (duchy  of  Ferrara),  where  he  was 
delayed  on  account  of  his  health  certificate.  The 
ducal  regulations  on  this  point  were  very  particular. 
On  the  door  of  every  room  in  the  inn  was  written 
up,  "  Remember  the  health  certificate ; "  immedi- 
ately on  arrival,  names  of  travellers  were  reported 
to  the  magistrates.  Montaigne  found  most  of  the 
streets  broad  and  straight,  all  paved  with  bricks ; 
there  were  many  palaces,  but  few  people,  and  he 
missed  the  porticos  of  Padua,  so  convenient  against 
the  rain.  He  did  the  town,  paid  his  respects  to  the 
duke,  saw  Tasso  in  the  mad-house,  and  found  the 
lemon-flower  distilling  Gesuates  again. 

At  Bologna  (in  the  Papal  States),  a  large,  fine 
city,  bigger  than  Ferrara,  and  with  many  more  peo- 
ple ;  he  also  found  young  Frenchmen  come  to  learn 
riding  and  fencing.  He  admired  the  fine  porticos, 
that  covered  almost  every  sidewalk,  the  handsome 
palaces,  the  buildings  of  the  School  of  Sciences, 
the  bronze  statue  of  Neptune  designed  by  John  of 
Bologna,  and  enjoyed  a  company  of  players.  "  The 
cost  of  living  was  about  the  same  as  at  Padua,  very 
reasonable ;  but  the  city  is  less  peaceful  in  the  older 
quarters,  which  make  debatable  land  between  the 
partisans  of  different  nations,  on  one  side  always 
the  French,  and  on  the  other  the  Spaniards,  who  are 
there  in  great  numbers." 

This  unpeaceful  and  factional  condition  was  not 
confined  to  Bologna,  but  spread  throughout  the 
Papal  States.    Even  fifty  years  later  a  perplexed 


A   SURVEY   OF   ITALY 

visitor  to  Ravenna  wrote:  "The  city  is  divided,  as 
yon  know,  into  Guelfs  and  Ghibellines,  so  much  so 
that  one  man  won't  go  to  another's  church,  ami 
each  side  has  its  place  in  the  public  square;  a  tailor 
who  works  for  one  need  not  look  tor  employment 
from  the  other,  ami  so  with  all  the  trades;  they 
distinguish  one  faction  from  tin-  other  by  the  way 
they  wear  their  hair,  their  caps,"  ete.  But  these 
pale  shadows  of  the  great  old  parties  were  slight 
inconveniences  compared  with  the  banditti,  who 
also  decked  themselves  with  old  names,  and.  under 
pretence  of  fighting  one  another,  robbed,  burnt,  pil- 
laged, and  murdered  with  perfect  impartiality.  The 
soldiers  and  the  common  people  united  against  these 
rascals,  but  they  were  too  strong  to  be  utterly  ex- 
tirpated. In  the  Papal  States,  one  Piccolomini,  a 
member  of  a  famous  Sienese  family,  raided  where 
he  chose,  and  once  led  a  band  of  two  hundred  men 
within  a  mile  or  two  of  the  walls  of  Koine.  Terms 
were  made  with  him,  for  he  was  under  the  protec- 
tion of  the  Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany,  and  although 
he  confessed  to  three  hundred  and  seventy  murders 
within  twenty-five  years,  he  was  pardoned  and  ab- 
solved. 

Leaving  Bologna,  Montaigne  hesitated  in  his 
choice  of  roads  on  account  of  brigands,  and  chose 
wisely  for  he  was  not  molested.  lie  crossed  the 
Apennines  1>\  a  road,  which  he  Bays  i->  the  fire!  that 

COuld   be  called    bad.  and    entered   the   (iiand    I>ilch\ 

of  Tuscany.  One  village  on  the  way,  still  in  papal 
territory)  was  famous  for  the  knaverj  of  the  inn- 
keepers,    who    made    wonderful     promises    till    the 


320         A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

traveller  was  safely  housed,  and  then  rendered  the 
Bcantest  performance.  At  the  next  village,  which 
was  in  Tuscany,  rival  hosts  rode  out  to  meet  the 
traveller,  and  struggled  to  secure  him,  promising 
everything.  One  ottered  to  serve  a  rabbit  for  din- 
ner free,  if  Montaigne  would  lodge  with  him.  The 
party  prudently  rode  about  to  all  the  inns  on  a  tour 
of  inspection,  examining  food  and  wine,  and  making 
their  bargain  before  dismounting;  the  host,  how- 
ever, managed  to  put  extras  on  the  bill,  it  being  im- 
possible to  remember  beforehand  every  item,  wood, 
candles,  linen,  hay,  etc. 

Next  day  Montaigne  rode  out  of  his  way  to  see 
Pratolino,  the  Grand  Duke's  famous  country  place, 
with  its  gardens,  alleys,  wonderful  grottos,  all  decked 
with  Nereids  and  Tritons,  and  fountains  of  extrava- 
gant baroque  designs.     From  there  he  went  on  to 

Florence,  which  appeared  to  him  smaller  than 
Ferrara.  He  went  to  see  the  ducal  stables,  the  ducal 
menagerie,  Michelangelo's  statues,  Giotto's  cam- 
panile ;  and  remarked  that  he  had  never  seen  a 
country  with  so  few  handsome  women  as  Italy. 
Lodging's  were  inferior  in  comfort  to  those  in  France, 
and  the  food  was  far  less  generous  and  less  well 
served  than  in  Germany,  where,  also,  sauces  and 
seasonings  were  far  superior ;  the  windows  were 
big  and  always  open,  for  there  was  no  glass,  and  if 
the  shutters  were  shut  they  excluded  light  and  air 
as  well  as  wind ;  the  beds  were  uncomfortable,  the 
wines  too  sweet ;  moreover,  Florence  was  esteemed 
the  most  expensive  city  in  Italy. 

Montaigne  dined  with  the  duke,  Francesco  I  (son 


A   SURVEY   OF   ITALY 

of  Cosimo  I),  and  his  second  wife,  Bianca  Cappello, 
the  famous  Venetian,  who  sat  at  the  head  of  the 
table.  She  had  a  pleasant  face,  was  reputed  hand- 
some, and  seemed  to  have  been  able  to  keep  her 
husband  devoted  to  her  for  a  long  time.  The  duke 
mixed  water  freely  with  his  wine;  she  scarcely  at 
all.  After  a  brief  stay,  during  which  he  risited 
gardens  and  the  environs  of  the  city,  which  he  ad- 
mired greatly,  Montaigne  rode  southward  to 

Siena.  The  country  was  cultivated  everywhere 
and  tolerablv  fertile,  but  the  road  was  rouffh  and 
stony.  At  Siena  he  notes  the  Duomo,  the  palaces, 
the  piazza,  the  fountains,  and,  important  point,  that 
"there  are  good  cellars  and  fresh;"  also,  that  in 
Tuscany  the  city  walls  are  let  go  to  ruin,  while  the 
citadels  are  carefully  fortified  and  no  one  is  per- 
mitted to  go  near,  showing  that  the  duke  feared 
domestic  insurrection  more  than  foreign  attack. 
Be  observes  "the  French  are  kept  in  Bucb affection- 
ate remembrance  here  l>v  the  people  of  the  country, 
that  at  any  mention  of  them  tears  well  up  in  their 
eyes,  for  war  itself,  with  freedom  in  some  form,  seems 
to  them  sweeter  than  the  peace  which  they  enjoy 
under  this  tyranny."  The  French  had  aided  Siena 
in  its  brave  Btruerele  for  liberty,  and  a  valianl  rem- 

uant   of    French   and    Sieiiese    had    held    oul    till    the 

Peace  of  Cateau-Cambreeifl  (1559),  when  France 
abandoned  them  t<»  Cosimo  dei  Medici, 

From  Siena  he  rode  southward  past  Bolsena, 
Viterbo,  and  a  pleasant  valley  surrounded  bj  bills 

red  with  wood,  "a  c oodity  sum. -what  rare 

in    t hi.-,  country."     Incidentally    be  commends  the 


328         A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

customs  :  in  good  houses  dinner  was  served  at  two 
o'clock  and  supper  at  nine  ;  and  if  there  was  a  play, 
it  began  at  six  and  was  over  by  supper  time.  "  It  is 
a  good  country  for  a  lazy  fellow  for  they  get  up  late." 

At  Rome  he  put  up  for  a  day  at  the  Bear,  and 
then  took  lodgings,  three  good  bedrooms,  parlour, 
dining-room,  kitchen,  and  stable,  for  twenty  crowns 
a  month,  the  host  providing  the  cook  and  fire  for 
the  kitchen.  "  Apartments  are  ordinarily  somewhat 
better  furnished  than  in  Paris,  especially  as  they 
have  a  great  deal  of  gilt  leather,  witli  which  the 
walls  of  apartments  of  a  certain  grade  are  hung." 
He  might  have  hired  another  apartment  for  the 
same  price,  furnished  in  silk  and  cloth  of  gold,  but 
he  did  not  think  this  luxury  suitable,  and  the  rooms 
were  not  so  convenient.  Ancient  Rome  impressed 
him  immensely,  and  the  modern  city,  too ;  he  was 
astonished  by  the  papal  court,  the  number  of  pre- 
lates, the  crowd  of  ecclesiasts,  by  the  streets,  so  full 
of  richly  dressed  men,  of  horses  and  coaches. 

Making  a  comparison  between  freedom  in  Venice 
and  in  Rome,  he  argued  for  Venice,  and  adduced 
these  reasons  :  "  Item,  that  in  Rome  houses  were  so 
insecure,  that  those  who  had  considerable  sums  of 
money  were  advised  to  leave  their  purses  at  their 
bankers,  so  as  not  to  find  their  chest  broken  open  ; 
item,  that  it  was  not  very  safe  to  go  out  at  night ; 
item,  that,  in  the  very  first  month  of  his  visit,  the 
General  of  the  Cordeliers  was  abruptly  dismissed 
from  his  post  and  put  in  prison,  because  in  a  sermon, 
which  he  preached  before  the  Pope  [Gregory  XIII] 
and  the  cardinals,  he  had  accused  prelates  of  lazi- 


A   SURVEY   OF   ITALY 

ness  and  luxury,  but  without  going  into  details,  and 
using  (with  some  asperity  of  voice)  only  perfectly 
common  and  current  phrases  on  the  subject ;  item, 

that  his  luggage  had  beeD  examined  en  entering 
the  city  for  the  customs,  and  hail  been  ransacked 
down  to  the  smallest  article  of  clothing,  whereas  in 

most  of  the  other  cities  in  Italy  the  officials  had 
been  satisfied  with  the  mere  offer  to  snlunit  to  ex- 
amination ;  besides  that,  they  had  taken  all  the 
books  they  found  in  order  to  examine  them,  and 
look  so  long  about  it,  that  a  man  who  had  some- 
thing to  do  might  put  them  down  as  lost  ;  add  to 
that,  that  their  rules  were  so  extraordinary  that  the 
'Book  of  Hours  of  Our  Lady'  fell  under  their  sus- 
picion, because  it  came  from  Paris  and  not  from 
Bome,  and  they  also  kept  books,  written  by  some 
German  doctors  against  heretics,  because  in  combat- 
ing them  they  made  mention  of  their  errors." 

On  Christmas  day  at  St.  Peter's  during  mass, 
Montaigne  "was  surprised  to  see  Pope,  cardinals,  and 
other  prelates,  seated  almost  all  through  the  mass, 
talking  and  conversing  together.  The  ceremony 
seemed  more  magnificent  than  devotional."  He  ob- 
tained an  interview  with  the  Pope,  very  ceremoni- 
ous;  and   dined   with  a    French  cardinal,  where    the 

benediciti  and  repetitions  of  grace,  verj  long,  were 
recited  antiphonally  by  two  chaplains.  During  din- 
ner the  Bible  was  read,  and  after  the  table  was 
cleared,  Bervice  was  In  Id:  everything  was  exceed- 
ingly Formal,  bui  the  chef  does  not  appear  to  bave 
equalled  Cardinal  Caraffa's  chef .  a  culinary  enthu- 
siast, with  whom  Montaigne  bad  a   long   tall;  on 


330         A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

sauces,  soups,  and  serving.  Montaigne  attended  the 
(ai  nival  sports  on  the  Corso,  a  festival  already  at 
that  time  more  than  a  hundred  years  old,  where  boys, 
Jews,  old  men,  horses,  asses,  and  buffalo  ran  races; 
fair  ladies,  without  masks,  looked  on,  and  young  cav- 
aliers congregated  where  the  ladies  could  see  them; 
the  ladies  were  richly  clad,  the  gentlemen  simply ; 
and  (Montaigne  adds)  the  appearance  of  the  dukes, 
counts,  and  marquesses  was  not  equal  to  their  titles. 

Montaigne's  "Essays"  had  been  submitted  to  the 
Master  of  the  Palace,  who  examined  them  with  the 
aid  of  a  French  friar,  for  the  Master  knew  no 
French.  After  a  delay  they  were  returned,  and  the 
Master  left  it  to  Montaigne's  conscience  to  alter 
what  might  seem  to  be  in  bad  taste,  especially  in 
those  points  to  which  the  French  friar  objected ; 
item,  that  Montaigne  had  used  the  word  Fortune ; 
item,  that  he  had  named  poets  who  were  heretics ; 
item,  that  he  had  made  an  apology  for  Julian  the 
Apostate ;  item,  that  he  had  suggested  that  when  a 
man  was  saying  his  prayers  he  ought  at  that  moment 
to  be  free  from  any  unworthy  inclination ;  item, 
that  he  judged  any  punishment  in  excess  of  death, 
cruelty ;  item,  that  a  child  should  be  educated  to 
do  all  sorts  of  things,  etc.  Another  book  belonging 
to  Montaigne,  a  history  of  the  Swiss,  was  confis- 
cated, because  the  translator  was  a  heretic. 

On  Maundy  Thursday  he  saw  the  Pope  come 
forth  on  the  balcony  of  St.  Peter's  attended  by  his 
cardinals.  On  one  side  a  canon,  speaking  Latin  ;  on 
the  other,  a  cardinal  read,  in  Italian,  a  long  bull  which 
excommunicated  an  everlasting  list  of  people,  in- 


A   SURVEY   OF   ITALY  331 

dueling  the  Huguenots  and  all  princes  who  withheld 
any  portion  of  the  territory  of  the  Church.  At  this 
last  article  Cardinals  Medici  and  Caraffa  laughed 

heartily.  At  night  there  was  a  great  procession  «>t' 
religious  guilds,  with  twelve  thousand  torches,  in- 
cluding files  of  Penitents,  who  scourged  their  bare 

backs  till  the  blood  ran.  .Montaigne,  however,  was 
of  opinion  that  these  Penitents  were  hired  for 
this  purpose.  He  agreed  with  the  French  ambas- 
sador, that  the  poor  people  were  incomparably  more 
devout  in  France  than  here,  but  that  in  Rome  the 
rich,  and  especially  the  courtiers,  were  more  devout 
than  in  France. 

From  Rome  Montaigne  made  his  way  northward 
by  Spoleto,  where  there  was  great  alarm  caused 
by  a  noted  brigand.  On  the  way  he  notes  his  food, 
—  salt  fish,  beans  uncooked,  artichokes  also  un- 
cooked, peas, green  almonds, eggs, cheese,  wine,  and, 
in  little  places,  (dive  oil  instead  of  butter.  "  You 
meet  monks  every  now  and  then  who  give  holy 
water  to  travellers  and  expect  alms  in  return,  and  a 

lot  of  children  who  beg  and  hold  out  their  beads, 
promising  to  Bay  a  string  of  paternosters  lor  the 
person  who  will  give  them  something. 

The  I'mbrian  plain  was  beautiful  and  fertile,  with 

grains  ami  i'mits  in  abundance,  the  whole  country 
rich  beyond  description.  So,  too,  bad  been  the 
Roman  Campagna,  but  that  was  not  tenanted,  for 
its  owners,  the  Roman  barons,  had  let  n  to  mer- 
chant farmers,  who  did  not  maintain  peasants  there, 
but  in  harvest  time  hired  husbandmen  from  all  over 
Italy,  to  the  Dumber  of  fortj  thousand,  t<>  gather 


332         A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

in  the  crops.  From  Foligno  he  turned  to  the  right 
and  crossed  the  Apennines  just  below  Assisi,  and 
travelled  toward  the  Adriatic  coast,  making  a  pil- 
grimage to  Loreto,  a  place  like  Lourdes,  celebrated 
for  its  miracles,  and  for  the  "very  same  little  house 
in  which  Jesus  Christ  was  born  in  Nazareth."  Here 
he  found  the  people  much  more  religions  than  else- 
where ;  even  the  attendants  in  the  Church  were 
ready  to  do  anything,  and  would  accept  no  tips. 
Thence  he  went  to  Ancona,  Sinigaglia,  Urbino, 
where  he  inspected  the  famous  palace  begun  by 
Federigo  da  Montefeltre ;  then  back  to  Florence, 
once  more  to  admire  the  beautiful  villas  which 
decked  the  hills  round  about,  and  on  to  Prato  and 
Pistoia,  stagnating  little  towns,  whose  civic  life  had 
been  crushed  out  by  the  Medici.  So  he  rode  on 
through  lovely  country,  where  long  lines  of  little 
trees,  trellised  with  vines,  divided  the  rich  fields  of 
grain,  skirting  the  hills  covered  with  olive,  mul- 
berry, and  chestnut,  till  he  reached  Lucca,  which 
had  saved  itself  from  the  clutch  of  the  Medici  by 
clingfino-  to  the  skirts  of  Austria. 

Lucca,  girdled  by  fortifications  worthy  of  a  most 
martial  ardour,  maintained  a  comfortable  prosperity 
by  the  manufacture  of  silk;  but  here,  as  elsewhere, 
it  was  becoming  unfashionable  to  engage  in  trade, 
partly  on  account  of  decreasing  returns  and  the 
general  waning  of  energy,  and  partly  from  Spanish 
influences.  Gentlemen  retired  from  business,  in- 
vested their  money  in  landed  estates,  and  were  rapidly 
tending  to  become  the  characters  which  we  find  in 
Goldoni's  comedies. 


A   SURVEY    OF    ITALY  333 

From  Lucca  Montaigne  went  to  the  Baths  oi 
Lucca  and  took  the  cure  for  Dear  two  months.    He 

found  the  country  lovely,  l>nt  society  a  little  slow  ; 
most  of  the  men  were  apothecaries.  After  the  euro 
he  made  another  tour  southward,  then  back  to 
Lucca  for  more  baths,  from  there  northward,  on 
the  road  to  -Milan,  stopping  at  PONTBEMOLI.  At 
the  inn  in  this  place,  the  dinner  began  with  cheese 
alia  milanese,  included  a  dish  of  olives,  their  pits 
taken  out,  dressed  with  oil  and  vinegar  alia  </>//<>- 
vese ;  on  a  bench  stood  one  basin  in  which  all  the 
guests  washed  their  hands  in  the  same  water,  (ilht 
pontremolese.  From  there  he  crossed  the  Apen- 
nines, where  the  mountaineers, horrid  people, charged 
them  most  cruel  prices,  and  went  on  into  the  duchy 
of  Parma,  where  Alessandro  Farnese,  the  greal  gen- 
eral, was  the  reigning  duke.  At  Piaoenza,  the  King 
of  Spain,  out  of  his  abundant  caution,  still  main- 
tained a  Spanish  garrison  in  the  castle,  "hadly  paid 
as  they  told  me."  Thence  they  proceeded  into  the 
duchy  of  Milan. 

At   1'wiv   Montaigne  remarks,  that  from   Rome 
northward  the  best  inn   he  had  lodged  :it  was  the 

P08t    at     Piacenza,    and     the    worst    the     WalcOfk    at 

Pa  via:  "  You  pay  extra  for  wood,  and  there  are  no 
mat:  a  the  beds."    Mnw  was  the  largest  city 

in  Italy,  not   unlike  Paris,  full  of  merchandise  and 
craftsmen  :  it  larked  the  palaces  of  other  cities,  but 
in  gize  «•'.!  .||cd  them  all,  and  in  throng  of  people 
rivalled  Venice. 
From  Milan  he  rode  westward,  and  entered   the 

domains   of    the  Duke  of    SaVOJ,   QTOSsing  the   S< 


334        A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

near  Vercelli,  where  the  duke  was  building  a  fort 
in  such  haste,  that  he  aroused  the  suspicion  of  his 
Spanish  neighbours.  Thence  he  went  to  Turin. 
Here  the  people  imitated  French  ways,  looked  up  to 
Paris,  usually  spoke  French,  or  rather  French  words 
with  Italian  pronunciation,  and  altogether  seemed 
very  devoted  to  France.  Montaigne  liked  Pied- 
mont, finding  the  inns  there  better  than  elsewhere 
in  Italy.  The  bread  was  bad  but  the  wine  good, 
there  was  plenty  to  eat,  and  the  innkeepers  were 
polite.  He  crossed  the  Alps  over  the  Mt.  Cenis 
Pass,  half  the  time  on  horseback,  half  the  time  in 
a  chaise  borne  by  four  porters,  and  then  entered 
Savoy  proper,  passing  its  capital,  Chamberi,  crossing 
the  Rhone  to  the  north  and  then  the  little  river 
Ain  to  the  westward,  and  came  to  Montluel,  the 
last  town  of  Savoy,  and  so  on  to  the  Saone,  Lyons, 
and  French  soil  (November,  1581). 

Such  was  the  Italy  of  the  long  period  from  1580 
to  1789,  the  land  of  olives,  mulberries,  and  chest- 
nuts, of  fertile  fields  crossed  by  vine-laden  trees,  of 
irrigated  plains  and  treeless  mountains,  of  inn- 
keepers, good,  bad,  and  indifferent,  of  Spanish  gar- 
risons, ducal  citadels,  and  dare-devil  banditti,  of 
begging  urchins,  perfuming  friars,  of  gentlemen 
too  genteel  to  work,  of  prelates  in  coaches,  of 
antique  ruins  and  Renaissance  glory,  of  blue  sky 
and  vivacious  manners,  in  short,  almost  the  Italy 
that  our  fathers  knew  before  the  perturbations  of 
1848. 


CHAPTER  XXXII 

THE  AGE  OF  STAGNATION,  POLITICS  (15S0- 

We  have  now  reached  a  period  of  comparative  sta- 
bility in  which  dukes,  viceroys,  oligarchs,  and  Popes 
sit  settled  in  their  respective  dominions  with  a  secu- 
rity that  appears  a  little  tame  after  the  whir  and  up- 
roar of  Barbarian  invasion.  To  be  sure,  the  wars 
between  Spain,  France,  and  Austria,  waged  first  to 
abate  the  over-greatness  of  the  House  of  Hapsburg 
and  afterwards  that  of  the  House  of  Bourbon,  were 
often  fought  out  in  the  north  of  Italy;  neverthe- 
less, the  period  of  confusion  has  passed,  and  each 
principality  has  a  consecutive  political  historv.  w  liich 
runs  along  for  two  hundred  years.  Our  best  course 
will  be  to  glance  at  the  careers  of  the  several  states, 
one  by  one,  until  they  reach  the  tumultuous  influ- 
ences of  the  French  Revolution.  Venice,  the  noblest 
as  well  as  the  most   powerful,  deserves  to  come  first. 

Venice  -.till  ranked  as  one  of  the  great   powers  of 

Europe;  -he  was  sought  as  an  ally,  she  took  part  in 
European  counsels,  and  bore  berself  with  resolute 
dignity  and  pride.    The  change  that  was  going  on 

went  on  xi  slowly,  and  her  statesmen  wme  so  well 
trained  ami  BO  Ear-Sighted,  that  her  reputation  re- 
mained intact  alter   the  power  which    had  Created  it 


330         A  SIIOKT   HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

bad  shrunk  and  dwindled.  In  spite  of  the  battle  of 
Lepanto  she  lost  the  island  of  Cyprus  to  the  Turks. 
but  secured  a  peace  which  lasted  for  two  genera- 
tions, a  surprisingly  long  time,  considering  that  the 
two  states  were  destined  to  fight  each  other  till  both 
were  exhausted.  She  was  less  successful  in  keeping 
at  peace  with  her  Christian  neighbours,  and  became 
embroiled  in  a  celebrated  quarrel  with  the  Holy 
See. 

There  was  an  irritating  papal  bull  which  was 
issued  and  reissued  under  the  stimulus  of  the  rein- 
visroratine  Counter-Reformation,  entitled  In  Coena 
Domini  (for  the  Lord's  Supper),  usually  read  on 
Maundy  Thursday.  It  was  probably  the  very  bull 
that  Montaigne  heard  read  from  the  balcony  of  St. 
Peter's.  This  bull  asserted  papal  claims  of  extreme 
character,  not  unworthy  of  Boniface  VIII,  and,  in 
fact,  revealed  complete  consciousness  of  renewed 
youth  and  vitality.  Other  states  in  Italy  bowed  and 
accepted,  or  pretended  to  accept,  this  declaration  of 
papal  authority ;  but  Venice  refused  to  publish  the 
bull.  In  fact,  though  Venice  had  always  professed 
great  respect  for  the  Holy  See,  she  had  been  consist- 
ently self-willed  and  opposed  to  papal  pretensions, 
and  likewise  somewhat  free-thinking.  Moreover, 
there  had  been  festering  disagreements  concern- 
ing territory  and  politics.  Venice  insisted  upon  the 
right  to  tax  Church  property  writhin  the  state,  and 
to  try  priests  charged  with  crime  before  her  lay 
tribunals.  Acting  upon  the  latter  right  she  arrested 
and  tried  two  priests  guilty  of  crime.  This  action 
traversed  the  doctrine  laid  down  in  the  papal  bull. 


THE   AGE   OF   STAGNATION,  POLITICS     337 

The  Pope  put  Venice  under  an  interdict  L606).  In 
retaliation  the  Signory  issued  a  decree  of  banish- 
ment against  all  priests  and  monks  who  Bhould  obey 
the  interdict.   Various  Orders  quitted  the  city.    The 

Pope  stood  firm  in  his  position  that  "there  could 
he  no  true  piety  without  entire  submission  to  the 
spiritual  power."  All  Europe  looked  on,  the  Pro- 
testants backing  Venice,  the  Catholics  supporting 
the  Pope.  War  was  in  the  air;  hut  the  danger  of  a 
European  ///</,'<  was  too  great.  The  French  King, 
Henry  1\  .  enacted  the  peacemaker;  and  the  forces 
in  favour  of  compromise  succeeded  in  reestablishing 
peace. 

Out  of  the  quarrel  one  man  issued  with  a  noble 
historic  reputation.  Fra  Paolo  Sarpi  (1552— 1623) 
was  the  last  of  the  great  Venetians.  In  boyhood 
he  was  so  precocious  a  scholar  thai  at  eighteen  he 
was  made  professor  of  Positive  Theology,  and.  a 
little  later,  of  Philosophy  and  of  Mathematics.  ( rrown 
up.  he  became  a  man  of  Bcii  nee,  the  foremost  of  his 
time  excepting  Francis  Bacon.  Be  discovered  the 
valves  of  the  veins,  and  also,  independently  of  II. n- 
\t-\.  the  circulation  of  the  blood.  He  made  discover- 
ies in  Optics.      He  studied  heat,  light,  sound,  colour, 

pneumatics,  the  magnetic  oeedle.  In  astronomy  Gal- 
ileo called  him, t( U mio padn  <  maestro  —  m\  father 

and    my    master.'"     Mr    i  I .  n  r\    Wotton,   tin-    English 

ambassador  to  Venice,  said,  Fra  Paolo  is  waa  expert 
in  tin-  history  of  plants  as  if  lie  had  never  perused 
an\  Look  hut  Nature."  [n  addition  to  these  achieve- 
ments, lie  wrote  a  \ny  celebrated  li i^t « .i  \  of  the 
Council  of  Trent.    At  the  time  of  the  breach  with 


338         A   SHORT   HISTORY  OF   ITALY 

tlic  I'apacv,  this  brilliant  savant  was  appointed  Theo- 
logical Counsellor  to  the  Republic,  and  was  abruptly 
flung  into  the  confusion  and  passion  of  violent  politi- 
cal strife.  Deeply  patriotic,  —  his  last  thought  was 
for  Venice,  "  Esto  perpetua,  may  she  live  forever," 
—  he  held  a  brief,  as  it  were,  for  his  country,  and  as 
her  advocate  argued  her  cause  before  all  Europe 
with  brilliant  success. 

At  this  period  the  Venetian  Signory  belonged,  in 
spirit  at  least,  to  an  international  political  party  which 
was  opposed  to  Spain  and  to  the  Papacy,  and  for 
that  reason  was  favoured  by  the  French,  especially 
when  Henry  of  Navarre  was  on  the  throne.  In 
fact,  this  quarrel  between  Venice  and  the  Papacy 
may  be  considered  an  episode  in  the  great  struggle 
between  the  party  of  European  freedom  and  the 
tyrannical  House  of  Hapsburg,  seated  on  the  thrones 
of  Spain  and  Austria,  and  supported  by  the  Papacy. 

But  Venice  was  not  able  to  concentrate  her  at- 
tention upon  European  affairs.  Later  in  the  cen- 
tury war  with  the  Turks  was  renewed ;  she  was 
too  weak  to  resist  them  single-handed,  and,  after  a 
struggle  which  lasted  for  twenty-five  years,  she  lost 
Crete  (1669).  Not  many  years  later,  having  obtained 
allies,  she  renewed  the  war,  fought  with  great  gal- 
lantry, and  actually  conquered  the  Morea,  which, 
on  the  conclusion  of  hostilities,  was  ceded  to  her 
(1699).  This  conquest,  now  best  remembered  from 
the  fact  that  in  the  attack  on  Athens  a  Venetian 
bomb  blew  up  the  Parthenon,  was  the  last  great 
military  exploit  of  the  Venetians,  and  within  twenty 
years  the  Morea  was  lost  again. 


THE   AGE   OF   STAGNATION,  POLITICS     339 

Martial  vigour  ebbed  slowly  but  surely.  Daring 
the  war  of  the  Spanish  Succession,  when,  the  course 

of  fortune  having  shifted,  Europe  combined  to  re- 
sist the  overbearing  power  of  Louis  XIV  and  the 
House  of  Bourbon,  Venice  remained  neutral.  Like 
an  old  dog  which  lias  fought  many  good  fights  in 
it^  youth  and  prime,  and  now,  lame  and  BCarred, 
maintains  a  dignified  abstention  from  canine  frays, 
Venice  lay  back.  In  1718,  alter  the  war  with 
Turkey  in  which  she  lost  the  Morea,  she  took  part 
in  the  treaty  between  Austria  and  Turkey.  This 
was  her  last  active  diplomatic  intervention  in  the 
affairs  of  Europe.  She  had  lost  Cyprus,  Crete,  the 
Morea;  and  now  her  province  in  Italy,  bits  of  Illyria, 
and  some  of  the  Ionian  Islands,  alone  remained  from 
her  old  empire.  She  shut  her  eyes  to  the  past,  and 
concentrated  her  attention  on  making  her  beautiful 
city  ''the  revel  of  the  earth,  the  masque  of  Etaly." 
On  the  eve  of  the  mighty  upheaval  of  the  French 
Revolution,  her  old  sea  glory  dashed  up  under  her 
last    greal    admiral.     Angclo     Lino    (1731—92),    who 

cleared  the  seas  of  tin-  Algerine  pirates;  but   it  was 

too    late,   Venice  had   run    hei   Course,   and   the    end 

a  hand. 

Spanish  Provinces 

Wesl  of  Venetian  territory ,  the  unfortunate  duchy 
of  Milan  Fulfilled  its  melancholy  lot  of  being  the 
prize  possessed  l>\  Spain,  \ « t  coveted  ami  foughl 
for  1»\  France,  [ts  bistory  takes  no  special  hold 
upon  the  memory.  Against  a  constant  background 
of  French  ambition  I  Richelieu,  Mazarin,  Louis  X I  \   . 


340         A   SHOET   HISTORY   OF  ITALY 

the  Spanish  governors  step  forward  upon  the  Milan- 
ese stage,  levy  taxes,  scheme  how  to  circumvent  the 
French,  and  how  to  extend  Spanish  dominion,  and 
then  go  home,  a  little  richer  but  without  leaving  any 
definite  impression  on  the  page  of  history  except  as 
they  have  served  to  create  the  scenes  depicted  in  the 
romantic  novel  "  I  Promessi  Sposi."  One  has  a  vague 
idea  of  ceremony,  bows,  obeisances,  ignorance,  ra- 
pacity, and  cruelty,  but  the  idea  is  nebulous,  and  we 
need  not  stop. 

Leaving  local  affairs  aside,  we  will  proceed  at 
once  to  see  how  the  titles  to  Milan  and  other  Span- 
ish provinces  in  Italy  passed  from  Spain  into  other 
hands.  History  here  acts  as  an  attorney  and  coldly 
records  the  transfer  from  one  monarch  to  another. 
Like  lots  of  land  the  provinces  of  Italy  were  bar- 
tered and  granted  in  consideration  of  war,  dynastic 
love,  and  affection,  or  for  the  sake  of  the  political 
equilibrium  of  Europe.  The  great  Powers  fell  to 
blows  over  the  succession  to  the  crown  of  Spain 
(1700-14),  to  the  crown  of  Poland  (1733-35), 
and  other  matters  in  which  Italy  had  no  voluntary 
concern ;  and,  after  years  of  war,  made  treaties  to 
reestablish  European  equilibrium  by  an  elaborate 
system  of  weights  and  counterweights.  Where  the 
balances  hung  unevenly,  a  province  of  Italy  was 
thrown  in  to  restore  them  to  a  level.  In  this  way 
Milan,  Parma,  Naples,  Sicily,  and  Sardinia  were  dis- 
posed of.  All  we  need  do  is  to  remember  that  in 
place  of  conveyances  there  were  treaties,  and  in  place 
of  offer,  counter-offer,  haggling,  and  bargaining, 
there  were  battles,  sieges,  devastation,  and  pillage. 


THE   AGE   OF   STAGNATION,  POLITICS     341 

The  records  of  conveyances  in  the  office  of  his- 
tory read  as  follows  :  — 


LOT 

Milan 

Naples 
« 

Sicily 
u 

M 

Parma 
Sardinia 


GRANTOR 

Spain 

Spain 
Austria 

Spain 
Savoy 

Austria 


ORANTKK 

Austria 


I'ATK 

1713 


Austria  1  7  1  .'"i 

Spanish  Bourbons  L738 

Sav..y  1713 

Austria  1720 

Spanish  Bourbons  1 738 


Spanish  Bourhons     Austria  L738 

Austria  Spanish  Bourbons    17  IS 


Spain 
Austria 


Austria 
Savoy 


1713 
1720 


Milan  was  subject  to  only  one  transfer,  from  Spain 
to  Austria,  by  the  treaties  of  Utrecht  and  Rastadl 
(1713-14),  which  closed  the  war   of   the   Spanish 

Succession.  Those  same  treaties  toot  Naples  and  tin- 
island  <if  Sardinia  from  Spain  and  gave  them  to 
Austria,  and  also  took  Sicily  from  Spain  and  gave  it 

to  Savoy.  Spain,  however,  was  dissatisfied,  and  at- 
tempted to  recover  what  Bhe  had  lost;  but  a  new 
Europeaii  coalitioo  forced  her  to  renounce  her  claim. 
In  tin-  general  pacification  after  the  war,  lot-  the 
purpose  of  making  a  more  satisfactory  arrangement, 
Sardinia  was  exchanged  for  Sicily,  giving  Sardinia 
to  Savoy  and  Sicily  to  Austria  I  L720).  Finally,  after 
the  war  of  the  Polish  Succession  bi  the  Peac< 
Vienna  L738  .  Austria  ceded  Naples  and  Sicily  to 
younger   tout  of   the  royal   Eamilj    of   Spain,  the 

Spanish     BourDOM,    on     condition     that     those     pro 


842         A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF  ITALY 

vinces  should  never  be  united  with  the  crown  of 
Spain,  and  received  in  exchange  the  little  duchy  of 
Parma,  which  had  fallen  to  a  Spanish  Bourbon  on 
the  extinction  of  the  Farnesi.  But  ten  years  later, 
at  the  close  of  the  war  of  the  Austrian  Succession, 
Austria  ceded  Parma  back  again  to  other  members 
of  the  Spanish  Bourbon  family. 

Tuscany 

Another  paragraph  is  necessary  to  complete  the 
Austrification  and  the  Spanification  of  Italy.  The 
Medici  of  Tuscany  died  out.  After  the  first  Grand 
Duke,  Cosimo,  six  successors  had  followed,  dwindling 
away  in  incapacity,  luxury,  and  bigotry.  The  last 
died  in  1737.  Then,  by  virtue  of  that  general  reap- 
portionment after  the  war  of  the  Polish  Succession, 
the  Grand  Duchy  was  handed  over  to  the  Duke  of 
Lorraine,  husband  of  Maria  Theresa,  of  the  House 
of  Hapsburg,  Empress  of  Austria,  and  became  an 
appanage  of  the  Austrian  Empire,  under  the  rule 
of  the  younger  sons  of  the  Imperial  house.  It  is  a 
relief  to  turn  from  these  Austrian  and  Spanish 
provinces  to  the  two  living  powers,  Savoy  and  the 
Papacy. 

Savoy 

It  would  be  impossible  to  chronicle  here  the  his- 
tory of  the  Savoyard  dukes,  who  were  advanced  to 
the  title  of  Kings  of  Sardinia  after  the  acquisition  of 
that  island.  Savoy  lay  in  the  way  of  the  three  fight- 
ing nations,  France,  Spain,  and  Austria.  The  plain 
of  Piedmont  was  an  admirable  fighting-ground,  and 


THE  AGE  OF  STAGNATION,  POLITK  - 

the  combatants  chose  it  on  all  possible  occasions, 
but  it  would  not  be  fair  to  charge  the  whole  blame 
upon  those  three  nations.  The  Dukes  ft'  Savoy  were 
ambitious  men,  full  of  all  sorts  of  schemes  tor  in- 
creasing their  dominions  and  their  personal  glory. 
\\  henever  any  one  of  them  thought  he  perceived  an 
opportunity  to  seize  some  neighbouring  territory,  he 
caught  at  it,  reckless  of  collision  with  his  powerful 
neighbours.  The  general  upshot  was  that  Savoy  lost 
its  old  Swiss  provinces  and  its  old  French  provinces, 
and  that  Piedmont  became  the  head  and  front  of 
the  new  Kingdom  of  Sardinia.  Equally  important 
to  Italy  was  the  fact  that,  while  the  people  of  the 
other  Italian  provinces  became  more  and  more  inca- 
pable of  bearing  arms  or  of  making  any  real  martial 
effort,  the  people  of  Piedmont  gradually  became  a 
nation  of  soldiers.  In  devastation,  war.  and  appar- 
ent ruin,  Piedmontese  valour  and  Piedmontese  char- 
acter were  trained  and  developed,  and  Piedmont 
little  by  little  came  to  feel,  and  likewise  t<»  impress 
upon  the  other  Italian  States,  that  she.  and  she 
alone,  was  the  refuge  and   hope  of    whatever  Italian 

patriotism  might  still  exist. 

Papacy 

The  Papacy  we  left  at  the  end  of  the  sixteenth 
century  in  the  full  flood  of  revival.  The  Popes  were 
swept  on  by  the  tide.  The  bold  and  successful  front 
opposed  to  tin-  enemy  was  supplemented  by  disci- 
pline within.  Heresy  was  traced  and  tracked.  In- 
qnisitors  roamed  about,  spying  what  they  might; 
the)  frightened  the-  learned  from  publishing,  prin- 


344         A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

ters  from  printing,  and  almost  all  from  freedom  of 
talk  and  thought.  Thus  traitors  were  rooted  out. 
And  at  the  same  time  faithful  soldiers  of  the  Church 
were  trained  and  educated.  Seminaries  for  priests 
of  divers  nations  were  founded  in  Rome ;  Jesuit 
schools  were  helped  everywhere.  Sixtus  V  (Felice 
Peretti),  1585-90,  was  a  Pope  worthy  of  the  great 
period.  He  entertained  a  plan  to  reconquer  Egypt, 
and  make  the  Mediterranean  and  Red  Seas  a  high- 
road  for  armies  and  navies  that  should  break  up 
the  Ottoman  power.  He  attacked  the  banditti  of  the 
Papal  State,  as  his  predecessors  had  attacked  the 
barons,  and,  for  a  time  at  least,  suppressed  them. 
He  was  a  great  builder ;  he  completed  the  dome 
of  St.  Peter's,  set  up  the  Egyptian  obelisk  in  the 
piazza  before  the  cathedral,  substituted  statues  of 
St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul  in  place  of  Trajan  and  Mar- 
cus Aurelius  on  the  tops  of  the  two  great  bronze 
columns  that  adorn  the  Foro  Trajano  and  the  Piazza 
Colonna.  He  brought  fresh  water,  named  after  him 
Acqua  Felice,  into  the  city  from  over  twenty  miles 
away,  and  gave  Rome  an  aspect  worthy  of  the  capi- 
tal of  the  Latin  world.  He  fixed  seventy  for  the 
number  of  cardinals;  he  revised  the  Vulgate;  and 
pondered  many  great  designs,  for  which,  as  he  said, 
his  strength  would  have  been  inadequate,  even  had 
he  lived. 

But  these  Popes  of  the  Revival,  who  carried  into 
effect  the  papal  principles  of  the  Council  of  Trent, 
vigorous,  and  in  many  respects  admirable,  as  they 
were,  need  not  detain  us,  for  the  history  of  the 
Papacy  in  this  period  scarcely  belongs  to  Italy.    It 


THE   AGE   OF  STAGNATION,  POLITICS     345 

has  a  far  wider  reach,  ami  is  intimately  bound  up 
with  the  great  Catholic,  one  might  Bay  the  great 
Latin,  effort  to  restore  or  extend  Catholicism  and 
Latin  supremacy  throughout  the  world.  In  the  Brit- 
ish Isles,  in  Scandinavia,  in  Poland,  in  Russia,  in  ( i.r- 
lnanv,  Austria,  Prance, and  Switzerland,  the  Church 
fought  with  the  old  Roman  spirit  of  conquest. 
Everywhere  the  Jesuit  fathers  went,  busy,  devoted, 
heroic.  The  ardour  of  St.  Francis  Xavier.  the  self- 
abnegation  of  St.  Francis  de  Sales,  the  passionate 
mysticism  of  St.  Theresa,  infected  and  controlled 
thousands  of  disciples.  Everywhere  weir  great 
manifestations  of  activity.  In  South  America  there 
were  bishops  and  archbishops,  hundreds  of  monas- 
teries and  innumerable  priests.  In  Mexico  there 
were  schools  of  theology.  In  India,  thousands  and 
thousands  of  converts  clustered  around  the  city  of 
( roa.  In  (  liina  and  Japan  the  Jesuits  built  churches, 
and  converted  to  Christianity  disciples  of  Confucius 
and  Buddha.  The  Church  had  founded  an  empire 
on  which  the  sun  never  set.  But  our  business  is  cot 
with  this  great  Latin  conquest,  this  great  Catholic 

revival.      We    must    pass   on    to    the    next    series   of 

Popes,  less  memorable  for  their  imitation  of  Scipio 

ami  CsBSar,  than  of  LuCulluS  and  CraSSUB.      Here  we 

find  tin-  Dames  of  the  founders  of  great  papal  fami- 
lies, bo  familiar  in  Rome,  not  as  missionaries,  teachers, 
or  martyrs,  hut  as  owners  of  palaces,  rillas,  pictures 
and  Btatues:  Borghese  (Paul  V.  1605-21),  the  Pope 
who  quarrelled  with  the  Venetian  Republic;  Ludo- 
vi-i  (Gregory  XV,  L621  23  .  in  whose  pontificate 
the  ( \,i,.  de  Propaganda  Fide  (( lollege  for 


34G         A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

Propagating  the  Faith)  was  established;  Barberini 
(Urban  VIII,  1623—44),  whose  family,  famous 
from  the  squib  "Quod  non  fecerunt  Barbari  fecerunt 
Barberini/'  built  its  palaces  out  of  Roman  ruins. 
During  the  pontificate  of  Barberini,  Galileo  was 
brought  before  the  Holy  Office,  and  his  opinion 
that  the  earth  moved  condemned  as  "absurd,  false 
in  philosophy,  and  essentially  heretical." 

Under  his  successor  Panfili  (Innocent  X,  1644- 
55),  Catholic  Europe  stopped  fighting  Protestant 
Europe,  and  the  Thirty  Years'  War  was  closed  by 
the  Peace  of  Westphalia  (1648).  The  Catholic 
Powers  gave  over  the  attempt  to  reduce  the  Protes- 
tant States,  and  acknowledged  their  independence. 
Panfili  launched  his  bull  against  the  treaty,  but 
the  weary  world  disregarded  the  old  man's  curses. 
After  him  came  Chigi  (Alexander  VII,  1655-67), 
Rospigliosi  (Clement  IX,  1667-69),  Odescalchi  (In- 
nocent XI,  1676-89),  whose  names  mean  little 
to  us. 

Lon<r  before  this  time  the  forces  of  revivification 
which  had  borne  onward  and  upward  the  Catholic 
counter-charge  on  the  Protestant  ranks,  had  begun  to 
fall  away.  The  great  Catholic  monarchs  of  Europe 
turned  their  minds  to  personal  ambitions  ;  the  Popes 
squandered  papal  revenues  on  their  own  families ; 
the  Jesuits  loosened  their  rigid  hold  on  their  once 
high  principles.  The  period  of  reform  had  passed, 
and  the  Papacy  settled  down  into  a  policy  of  main- 
taining the  ecclesiastical  empire  left  to  it  and  of 
enjoying  its  little  Italian  monarchy.  In  politics  it 
pursued  a   shifting  course  towards   Austria,  Spain, 


THE   AGE   OF   STAGNATION,  POLITICS     347 

and  France,  dictated  rather  by  passing  fears  than 
by  wisdom  or  lofty  ambition.  At  the  time  of  the 
close  of  the  war  of  the  Spanish  Succession  tin- 
Papacy  was  hardly  regarded  as  a  European  power. 
The  proof  of  decline  was  most  visible  in  the  con- 
cessions made  by  the  Papacy  to  the  Catholic  sover- 
eigns, by  its  forced  acquiescence  in  the  repeated 
attacks  on  the  Jesuits,  and  finally,  by  its  Lull  sup- 
pressing, or  rather  attempting  to  suppress,  the  Order 
1773). 
Throughout  the  eighteenth  century  the  papal 
part  in  European  affairs  was  insignificant  ;  and  in 
Italy  the  general  effects  of  papal  rule  were  steadily 
increasing  poverty,  superstition,  and  incompetence. 
It  is  a  relief  to  turn  away,  knowing  that  the  French 
Revolution  is  blowing  its  refreshing  blasts  ahead 
of  u^. 


CHAPTER   XXXIII 

THE  AGE  OF  STAGNATION,  THE  ARTS  (1580-1789) 

We  should  do  wrong  to  leave  these  centuries  to 
stand  solely  on  their  political  record.  Even  this 
dreary  period  has  contributed  not  a  little  to  the  sum 
of  Italy's  attractions.  After  the  moral  vigour  of  re- 
publican Florence,  after  the  freshness  of  the  Renais- 
sance and  its  later  grandeur,  after  the  elegance  of 
the  courts  of  Urbino,  Ferrara,  and  Milan,  it  requires 
time  to  adjust  ourselves  to  a  different  standard  and 
to  acquire  a  relish  for  this  period  of  dissipated  little 
kings  and  dukes.  But  once  familiar  with  the  altered 
standard  of  excellence,  these  centuries,  with  their 
arts,  their  habits,  their  idleness,  become  exceedingly 
sympathetic,  and  lure  with  peculiar  dexterity  the 
idler  who  seeks  entertainment  and  the  picturesque. 
Not  that  there  is  no  serious  element  in  them,  for 
there  is.  Italy,  though  known  to  us  through  her  lov- 
ers as  a  woman  land,  has  always  happily  commingled 
feminine  charm  and  masculine  strength.  Like  the 
Apennines  which  stretch  their  grim  strength  from 
the  Alps  to  the  toe  of  the  peninsula,  virility  runs 
throughout  the  length  of  Italian  history,  though 
at  times  it  avoids  notice.  In  this  period  it  is  best 
represented  by  science ;  and  we  must  not  omit  to 
mention  a  few  of  the  most  distinguished  scientific 
thinkers. 


THE  AGE  OF  STAGNATION,  THE  AKT> 

Giordano  Bruno   (1550-1600)    and   Campanella 
(1568-1639)  were  philosophers  rather  than  men  of 

science  ;  their  philosophy  ran  counter  to  the  scholas- 
tic philosophy  sanctioned  by  the  Church,  and  they 
came  into  collision  with  the  stern  spirit  of  the  Cath- 
olic Reaction.  Campanella  was  persecuted  and  pun- 
ished ;  Bruno  was  condemned  as  a  heretic  and  burnt 
to  death  in  the  city  of  Rome.  Greater  than  either 
was  Galileo  (1564—1642),  whose  Dame  is  one  of  the 
most  illustrious  in  astronomy.  Be  was  born  at  Pisa, 
where  he  was  educated  in  the  university.  He  de- 
voted himself  to  study,  especially  to  mathematics, 
and  became  a  professor.  In  1609  he  heard  that  a 
Dutchman  had  made  an  instrument  which  in  some 
way  by  means  of  a  lens  magnified  objects.  Acting 
on  this  hint  he  constructed  a  telescope;  and,  it'  not 
strictly  the  inventor,  he  was  the  Hist  to  use  the  tele- 
scope in  astronomy.  The  next  year  he  made  various 
eventful  discoveries  :  thai  there  are  mountains  in  the 
moon,  and  spots  on  the  sun  ;  that  Venus  has  phases  ; 
that  Saturn  has  an  appendage,  which  later  was  proi  ed 
to  be  rings;  that  Jupiter  has  four  satellites,  a  dis- 
covery which  increased  the  number  of  heavenly 
bodies  from  the  mystically  sacred  seven  (sun,  moon, 
Mercury, A  enus,  Mars,  Jupiter,  and  Saturn)  to  the  un- 
inspiring eleven.    The-,-  d  18C01  'Ties  j  >ei  siudtd  <  ialileO 

to  adopt  the  Copernican  theory,  and  brought  him 
into  collision  with  the  Church.  Much  has  been  said 
about  hi>  cruel  persecution,  bnt  he  appears  to  have 
received  gentle  treatment  and  to  have  undergone  a 
merely  nominal  imprisonment.  Another  philosopher, 
Vieo    1668    17  11  .i  Neapolitan,  enjoys  a  eery  high 


350         A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

reputation  in  Italy  as  a  thinker.  He  wrote  a  philoso- 
phy of  history,  in  which  he  investigated  the  laws 
that  govern  human  progress,  showed  that  philo- 
sophical theories  must  treat  mankind  collectively, 
and  anticipated  Comte's  theory  of  the  three  stages 
of  social  development. 

Science  is  not  the  characteristic  trait  of  this  period  ; 
for  that  is  to  be  found  in  the  arts  or  in  the  pleasant 
enervating  lassitude  of  life.  In  the  grand-ducal  at- 
mosphere there  is  a  sense  of  having  browsed  on  lotos- 
flowers.  As  we  glance  back  on  the  great  centuries, 
their  efforts  look  splendid,  their  high  purposes  noble, 
their  infinite  curiosity  commendable,  but  we  are  con- 
tent to  sit  in  a  ducal  garden,  to  listen  to  the  Tritons 
spout  into  the  fountains,  to  sip  chocolate,  to  meditate 
sonnets  to  a  partner  for  the  minuet,  to  gossip  about 

"  His  Highness  and  Contessa  B ,  who,  so  that 

young  milord,  Horry  Walpole,  says,  wras  once  a  balle- 
rina," and  to  confess  our  sins  to  fat,  amiable  priests. 
We  enjoy  the  badinage  of  the  abbes,  the  ingenious 
vacuity  of  the  litterateurs,  the  cheerful  buzz  of  the 
cafe,  the  daily  saunter  on  the  fashionable  promenade, 
the  drive  in  the  park,  and  all  the  details  of  theatrical 
make-believe  existence. 

As  one  becomes  used  to  this  lotos-laden  atmos- 
phere, one  gets  lenient  impressions  of  the  arts,  of 
their  peculiar  and  characteristic  agreeableness,  and 
rapidly  loses  one's  previous  too  scornfully  classical 
attitude.  In  an  earlier  chapter  we  indulged  in 
some  high-flown  denunciation  of  the  Baroque  in 
architecture.  That  was  because  we  were  fresh  from 
the  Renaissance.   Now  that  we  have  eaten  of  the 


THE   AGE  OF  STAGNATION,  THE   ARTS     351 

lotus,  we  refrain  from  comparison  and  cnj.iv  the  arts 
in  their  new  phases,  in  ami  for  themselves.  There  is 
hardly  an  Italian  city  that  would  not  he  poorer  for 
the  absence  of  the  Baroque,  Rome,  for  Instance, 
owes  mosl  of  it^  charm  to  these  decadent  generations, 
to  the  Villa  Medici,  the  Villa  Borghese,  the  Span- 
ish Steps,  the  Trevi  Fountain,  the  Piazza  Navona. 

A  Neapolitan.  Bernini \  L598-1680  .  was  the  mas- 
ter spirit  of  the  best  Baroque,  both  in  architecture 
and  in  sculpture.  His  greatest  achievement  is  the 
splendid  colonnade  which  reaches  out  like  two  arms 
from  St.  Peter's  Church  and  clasps  the  sunny  /< 
in  its  embrace (1667).  Bernini's  statues,  his  foun- 
tains, his  decorations  and  ornaments,  make  a  good 
history  of  the  time.  They  undoubtedly  reveal  de- 
cadence, yet  they  are  respectfully  imitative  of  the 
great  achievements  of  the  Renaissance,  whereas  the 
works  of  his  numerous  disciples  are  surcharged  with 
contortion,  obvious  effort,  and  strain  Eor  effect. 
There  is  a  maximum  of  visible  exertion  with  a 
minimum  of  real  accomplishment.  Details  are  mul- 
tiplied, and  ornaments  hear  little  or  no  relation  to 
the  organic  structure  of  the  buildings  winch  they 

adorn  ;   \»-t  that   practice  is  an   Italian  trait.  ;nid  e\eii 

in  excess  has  a  picturesque  merit.  The  baser  work 
of  this  Btyle,  exhibited  in  the  vainglorious  churches 
of  the  Jesuits,  is  sometimes  called  the  Jesuit  Btyle. 

After    this  period  of    Btormjj    ornament   cone    a  calm 

in  the  eighteenth  century,  facades  became  recti- 
linear, and  there  was  a  general  subsidence  of  obvious 
effort. 

In  naint  lie'  the  school  of  Bologna,  led  by  Lodovico 


352        A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF  ITALY 

Caracci  (1555-1619)  and  his  nephews,  Agostino  and 
the  more  noted  and  gifted  Annibale,  set  the  fash- 
ion. They  endeavoured  to  com  1  tine  faithfulness  to 
nature  with  all  the  merits  of  all  their  predecessors, 
and  are  therefore  called  the  eclectic  school.  They 
remained  the  cynosure  of  touring  eyes  until  the 
middle  of  the  nineteenth  century.  Sir  Joshua  Rey- 
nolds admired  and  praised  them.  Some  of  their  dis- 
ciples were  for  a  long  time  almost  as  famous  as 
Raphael.  Domenichino's  Last  Communion  of  St. 
Jerome  held  a  place  of  honour  in  the  Vatican  Gal- 
lery equal  to  Raphael's  Transfiguration.  Guido 
Reni's  Aurora,  painted  on  the  ceiling  of  the  casino 
in  the  Rospigliosi  palace  in  Rome,  had  a  tremendous 
vogue,  and  even  now  tourists,  escaped  from  the  crit- 
ics, admire  it  privily.  Guercino,  Sassoferrato,  and 
also  the  lachrymose  Carlo  Dolci  are  other  celebrated 
members  of  the  school.  Another  school,  almost 
equally  famous,  was  devoted  to  Naturalism,  —  imita- 
tion of  starving  old  beggars  and  a  general  depiction 
of  want,  misery,  and  squalor.  Of  these  painters 
the  principal  were  Caravaggio  (1569-1609),  a  Nea- 
politan, and  his  pupil  Ribera,  known  as  Lo  Spay  no- 
letto,  because  he  was  born  in  Spain.  A  later  group, 
the  Venetians  of  the  eighteenth  century,  consisted 
of  Canaletto,  Bellotto,  Guardi,  and  others  who  painted 
again  and  again  the  idle  canals  and  pleasure-loving 
palaces  of  Venice.  The  greatest  of  this  group  was 
Tiepolo  (1693-1770),  who  attained  in  a  measure  the 
grand  manner  of  the  great  masters  of  the  sixteenth 
century. 

In  literature,  though  that  also  had  flashes  of  seri- 


THE   AGE  OF  STAGNATION.  THE    A  B  1  'S     353 

ousness,  as  in  Filicaia'a  celebrated  Bonnet  to  Italy 

adapted  by  Lord  Byron,  — 

Italia  !    ( )  Italia  !    thou  who  ha.-t 
The  fatal  gift  of  beauty  — 

the  spirit  of  the  Baroque,  in  its  lightest  and  plea- 
Bantest  manner,  expressed  itself  to  the  full  1»\  means 
of  the  Academy  of  Arcadia.  The  unreality  of  the 
whole  Italian  world  was  concentrated  iii  this  Acad- 
emy, which  soon  had  branches,  imitations,  colonies  all 
over  the  peninsula.  It  was  founded  in  Rome  (  \i'>\>-) 
by  Gravina.  a  jurist,  Crescimbeni,  a  priest,  ami  other 
dilettanti,  for  the  ennoblement  of  literature,  the  pu- 
rification of  taste,  and  other  meritorious  purposes. 
The  members  called  themselves  Arcadian  shepherds 
and  shepherdesses,  took  pastoral  names,  composed 
sonnet  by  the  bushel,  wrote  one  another's  biogra- 
phies, and  were  altogether  delightfully  ally.  Got 
doni,  the  playwright,  gives  a  glimpse  of  these  Littera- 
teurs in  the  eighteenth  centurj  as  lie  observed  them 
in  Pisa. 

One  day  In-  passed  a  garden  gate  and  saw  within 
the  garden  i  crowd  of  ladies  ami  gentlemen  grouped 
by  an  arbour.  Be  was  told,  "The  assembly  which 
vou  see  is  a  colony  of  the  Arcadia  of  Home,  called 
the  Colony  of  Aipheus,  named  altera  \er\  celebrated 

river    iii    Greece,  which   flowed   through    the  ancient 

Pisa  in  Ellis."  Goldoni  went  up  to  the  circle  and  lis- 
tened to  a  Dumber  of  gentlemen  who  recited  poems, 
canzoni,  ballad-,  sonnets,  etc.  lie  observed  that  the 
company  looked  at  him  as  u  desirous  to  know  who 
In-  pas.  Eager  to  Batisfj  their  curiosity,  he  asked 
the  presidenl  if  a  stranger  mighl  be  permitted  t«» 


354         A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

express  in  poetry  the  satisfaction  which  he  experi- 
enced in  being  present  on  so  interesting  an  occa- 
sion. Goldoni  had  a  sonnet  in  his  head,  composed 
by  him  in  his  youth  for  some  similar  festival ;  he 
hastily  changed  a  few  words  to  adapt  it  to  the  pre- 
sent occasion,  and  recited  the  fourteen  lines  with 
the  tone  and  inflection  of  voice  which  set  off  senti- 
ment and  rhyme  to  the  best  advantage.  The  sonnet 
had  all  the  appearance  of  being  extemporaneous,  and 
was  very  much  applauded.  Whether  the  meeting 
had  come  to  its  appointed  end  or  not  he  did  not 
know,  but  everybody  got  up  and  crowded  about  him. 
Thereupon  he  was  introduced  to  a  whole  troop  of 
Arcadian  shepherds,  who  welcomed  him  most  heart- 
ily. At  another  meeting  the  president,  whose  proper 
title  was  Guardian  of  the  Shepherds,  drew  a  large 
packet  from  his  pocket,  and  presented  Goldoni  with 
two  documents,  a  certificate  of  his  membership  in 
the  Arcadia  of  Rome  under  the  name  of  Polisseno 
(Polixenes),  and  a  legal  deed  which  bestowed  upon 
him  the  Fegean  Fields  in  Greece ;  whereupon  the 
whole  assembly  saluted  him  under  the  name  of  Po- 
lixenes Fegeus,  and  embraced  him  as  a  fellow  shep- 
herd. Goldoni  says  that,  in  spite  of  the  formality 
of  the  conveyance,  the  Turks  never  acknowledged 
his  title. 

Mention  of  the  Arcadia  and  of  Goldoni  leads  to 
another  art,  most  characteristic  of  these  two  centu- 
ries, the  player's  art.  The  drama  had  never  been 
a  success  in  Italy ;  Machiavelli  and  Ariosto  wrote 
comedies,  but  they  were  no  better  from  a  dramatic 
than    from  an  ethical  point   of  view.     After   the 


THE   AGE  OF  STAGNATION,  THE   ARTS     355 

acknowledged  failure  of  serious  comedy,  another  spe- 
cies took  the  field,  the  "Commedia  delT  Arte,"  and 
definitely  established  itself  at  about  the  time  of 
the  beginning  of  the  Baroque.  In  this  species  of 
comedy  the  dramatis  persoiue  were  masked  and  al- 
ways impersonated  certain  definite  characters,  and 
the  dialogue  was  improvised.  These  masks  were 
Pantalone,  our  Pantaloon,  a  Venetian  merchant, 
who  always  wore  a  black  robe  and  scarlet  stockings, 
and  spoke  the  Venetian  dialect ;  //  l)i>lti,r> ,  the  do. - 
tor,  a  pompous  ass  from  Bologna  ;  ArlecchinOj  Har- 
lequin, a  silly  and  credulous  servant  in  tight  hose 
and  motley  jerkin,  and  Brighella,  a  quick-witted 
and  knavish  servant,  both  speaking  the  patois  of 
Bergamo;  Colomhina,  the  soubrette,  a  pretty  maid- 
servant from  Tuscany;  Capltano  Spavento,  Captain 
Terrible,  a  fire-eater  from  Naples,  etc.  This  comedy, 
necessarily  kept  within  narrow  limits  by  these  charac- 
ters, was  strictly  improvisation,  except  that  the  play- 
wright provided  a  scenario,  a  skeleton  plot.  It  had 
great  success,  and  troops  of  Italian  comedians  went 
all  over  Europe;  but  by  the  eighteenth  century  it 
had  run  its  course  and  become  mere  nilgai  horse- 
play, and  Goldoni  (1707-i^>),  the  only  brilliant  comic 
playwright  that  Italy  has  produced,  gave  it  a  death- 
blow. 

Goldoni  was  a  Venetian,  and  a  perfect  embodi- 
ment of  the  happy,  careless,  amiable,  entertaining 

Society  of  the  tune.     He  led  a  ro.iming  lite,  going  to 

Tuscany  to  learo  good  Italian,  and  finally  ending 

his  career  with  twenty  years  in  I'aris.  Some  of  his 
plays  are  in  the  Venetian  dialect;  two  were  written 


356         A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

in  French.  There  are  more  than  a  hundred,  count- 
ing tragedies,  interludes,  and  all.  Their  virtue  is 
their  lightness.  They  are  made  of  foam,  a  delicious 
dramatic  souffle,  and  in  the  hands  of  accomplished 
Italian  actors,  like  Eleonora  Duse  or  Ermete  Novelli, 
retain  their  charm  to  this  day.  They  are  essential 
for  the  history  of  the  period,  with  their  counts, 
barons,  marquesses,  their  ladies,  their  waiting-maids, 
their  innkeepers,  camerieri,  cobblers,  adventurers, 
and  all  their  gay  mockery  of  the  idle  habits  of  the 
time. 

It  will  throw  a  little  more  light  upon  the  customs 
of  that  day  to  mention  cicisbeismo,  an  unwritten 
ride  of  an  artificial  and  idle  society,  which  prescribed 
that  a  lady  should  have  a  cavaliere  servente,  a  gen- 
tleman dangling  in  attendance  upon  her.  Every 
lady  had  a  husband,  as  maidens  were  not  allowed  in 
society,  and  widows  had  to  choose  between  a  con- 
vent and  a  second  marriage  ;  but  the  husband  could 
not  wait  upon  her,  for  his  own  duty  as  cavaliere 
servente  required  him  to  be  in  attendance  upon 
somebody  else's  wife.  The  duties  of  the  cavaliere 
servente  were  to  devote  himself  solely  to  his  lady, 
to  write  billets-doux,  compose  sonnets  to  her  lapdog, 
to  hand  her  chocolate  at  conversazioni,  to  give  her 
his  arm  on  all  occasions,  to  ride  beside  her  coach 
when  she  was  out  driving,  and  so  on.  In  fact,  he 
was  required  to  do  all  those  little  offices,  jietits  soins, 
which  a  young  gentleman  is  accustomed  to  render 
to  the  lady  whom  he  is  engaged  to  marry.  It  was  a 
state  of  active  flirtation,  not  only  sanctioned  but  re- 
quired by  society.     It  is  said  that  in  some  cases  the 


THE   AGE  OF  STAGNATION,  THE   ARTS     357 

eacaliere  servente  was  agreed  upon  before  marriage, 
and  his  name  inserted  in  the  marriage  contract. 

Besides  Goldoni's  comic  drama  and  the  u  Corn- 
media  dell'  Arte"  this  Baroque  Italy  gave  the  world 
another  and  far  more  important  gift,  the  Opera. 
Italian  genius  flared  up  once  more  and  led  the  world 
in  music.  As  far  back  as  the  days  of  the  Council 
of  Trent  the  reforming  spirit  of  the  Church  found 
its  noblest  expression  in  Palestrina's  (1524?— 94) 
masses,  but  after  his  death,  after  the  Catholic  Re- 
vival had  lost  its  deeply  serious  feeling,  music  took 
another  step.  Florence,  the  old  home  of  genius,  was 
the  spot.  A  group  of  music  lovers,  who  were  full 
of  classic  theories  about  art,  wrished  to  revive  an- 
tique Greek  drama,  with  its  combination  of  poetry, 
music,  and  dance.  They  decided  that  the  words 
were  the  chief  element,  that  the  music  must  be  sub- 
servient to  the  full  emotional  expression  of  the 
poetry,  must  intensify  the  dramatic  significance  of 
the  story.  To  give  effect  to  their  opinion  they  de- 
viled a  method  of  setting  music  to  declamation,  the 
earliest  form  of  recitative.  They  meant  to  revive 
the  Greek  drama,  but  they  produced  the  opera. 
After  a  few  years  of  work  over  the  new  ideas,  in 
1600,  at  the  Pitti  Palace,  an  opera  was  publicly 
performed  in  honor  of  the  espousals  of  Maria  dei 

Medici  and  Henry  IV  of  France.    This  was  tin-  first 

public  performance  of  a  secular  opera.  Soon  after- 
wards Monteverdi  (1567  L643),  a  revolutionary 
genius  in  the  history  of  music,  produced  Ion  operas 

at   Mantua.      In    L637   the   lir.st    public   Opera    house 

was  opened  in  Venice  ■.  others  quickly  followed  ;  the 


358         A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

opera  became  a  favourite  diversion,  and  Italian  sing- 
ers carried  it  to  France,  Germany,  Austria,  and  Eng- 
land. In  the  same  year  as  the  performance  in  the 
Pitti  Palace,  a  dramatic  oratorio,  "  The  Sonl  and  the 
Body,"  was  publicly  performed  in  Rome.  The  ora- 
torio was  greatly  developed  by  Carissimi  (1604- 
74)  of  the  Roman  school,  and  with  him  and  his 
successors  acquired  much  stateliness  and  beauty. 
Its  influence  on  the  opera,  however,  was  not  good, 
at  least  if  we  adopt  the  opinion  of  those  Florentine 
Hellenes  and  of  Wagner,  for  it  developed  music  as 
an  independent  element,  and  did  not  subordinate  it 
to  dramatic  action. 

With  the  exception  of  this  misdevelopment  of 
the  opera,  all  music  evolved  brilliantly  and  well  in 
Italy,  and  especially  in  Naples,  which  eclipsed  all 
other  cities,  and  showed  that  she,  too,  had  her  in- 
dividual genius.  Alessandro  Scarlatti  (1659-1725) 
wrote  a  great  number  of  operas  and  oratorios,  and 
composed  a  vast  quantity  of  ecclesiastical  music. 
He  was  followed  by  his  son  Domenico  Scarlatti, 
by  Durante,  Leo,  and  Jommelli,  by  Pergolesi,  Pic- 
cinni,  Cimarosa,  and  Paisiello,  who  followed  one 
another,  like  a  flight  of  singing  birds,  through  the 
eighteenth  century.  The  Italian  opera,  even  then, 
had  the  characteristics  of  subordinating  dramatic 
propriety  and  all  semblance  of  reality  to  arias, 
trills,  and  vocal  exaggeration,  but  it  was  not  till 
the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century  —  with  Ros- 
sini, Bellini,  Donizetti  —  that  the  Italian  opera  (if 
I  may  venture  to  adapt  a  famous  phrase)  became 
melted  Baroque.    There  were  other  schools  of  music 


THE   AGE  OF  STAGNATION,  THE   ARTS     359 

at  Rome,  Bologna,  and  Venice.  It  was  in  Venice 
that  the  four  famous  asylums  for  girls,  con8<  roatori, 
were  turned  into  music  schools,  and  gave  their  name 
to  training  schools  for  musicians  all  over  the  world. 

Besides  the  opera  one  must  note,  in  mentioning 
Italian  musical  genius,  the  violin-makers,  the  Amati 
of  Cremona,  the  greater  Stradivarius  (1644-1737 ), 
and  other  famous  makers  of  Cremona,  Brescia,  and 
Venice ;  also  the  organ-builders,  the  Antignati  of 
Brescia ;  the  great  Italian  singers,  then  as  now  fa- 
vourites of  the  world ;  as  well  as  the  greatest  of 
libretto-writers,  Metastasio. 

Metastasio  (1698-1782)  had  a  career  that  can 
only  be  compared  to  that  of  a  successful  prima 
donna.  As  a  boy  he  was  adopted  by  the  Arcadian 
lawyer,  Gravina,  and  brought  early  to  drink  of  the 
Pierian  spring.  After  Gravina's  death  he  spent  his 
money,  got  into  the  company  of  singers  and  mu- 
sicians at  Naples,  and  composed  the  words  of  an 
opera  "  Dido,"  while  still  a  youth  of  five-and-twenty. 
"Dido"  had  immense  success,  and  from  this  time 
on  Metastasio  poured  out  play  after  play  in  words 
that  went  halfway  and  more  to  meet  the  accompany- 
ing mumc.  His  renown  was  triumphant  throughout 
Europe;  he  became  the  pet  of  lords,  ladies,  kings. 
and  Popes.  He  flitted  from  court  to  court,  and 
sipped  the  honey  of  facile  success  ;  he  serves  as 
the  embodiment  of  tin-  Italian  opera,  or  rather  as 
a  poetical  spirit,  a  kind  of  baroque  nightingale,  to 
chant  the  charm,  the  sentiment,  tin-  sweetness,  the 
unreality,  of  these  two  make-believe  centuries. 

As  we  take  leave  of  tin-  Seventeenth  and  Eight- 


360         A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF  ITALY 

eenth  Centuries  (a  somewhat  ignoble  pair),  their 
architecture,  painting-,  literature,  and  music,  we  must, 
as  in  other  matters,  remember  the  good  and  forget 
the  bad.  We  must  keep  in  mind  the  Spanish  Steps, 
which  offer  at  their  base  ample  room  for  all  the 
flowers  of  all  the  flower-sellers  of  Rome,  then  rise 
in  easy  flight,  pause,  rest,  and  mount  again,  tier  upon 
tier,  till  the  top  step  stretches  out  into  a  terrace, 
where  the  pedestrian,  glad  to  pause,  turns  and  looks 
back  over  Rome  towards  the  majestic  dome  of  St. 
Peter's.  We  must  remember  the  Trevi  Fountain  where 
gods  and  nymphs  and  waters  splash  and  frolic  to- 
gether, or  Guido's  Aurora,  where  Apollo  looses  the 
rein  to  his  heavenly  horses  as  they  gallop  after  Luci- 
fer, while  the  straight-backed  hours  dance  divinely 
alongside.  We  must  recall  the  sweet  sentiment  in 
Metastasio,  the  light  nothingness  of  Goldoni,  the 
merriment  of  Harlequin  and  Columbine,  the  violins 
of  Stradivarius,  the  singing  of  Farinello  and  Pac- 
chierotti,  the  melodies  of  Pergolesi,  and  the  general 
pleasantness  of  an  idle,  amiable  society.  Then  we 
want  to  join  the  eighteenth-century  travellers,  — 
Addison,  Walpole,  President  de  Brosses,  or  Goethe, 
—  and  we  look  back  with  vain  regret  to  that  happy 
lotos-eating  time,  and  wish  it  would  return  again. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV 

THE  NAPOLEONIC   ERA   (1789-1880) 

Now  come  those  great  events,  most  important  to  Italy, 
the  French  Revolution  and  the  invasion  by  Napo- 
leon. The  storm  burst  upon  a  scene  of  quiet.  Italy 
was  still  like  a  comedy  of  Goldoni,  dukes  enjoying 
taxes  and  mistresses,  priests  accepting  oblations  and 
snuff,  nobles  sipping  chocolate  and  pocketing  rent, 
while  the  poor  peasants,  kept  behind  the  scenes, 
sweated  and  toiled  for  a  bare  subsistence. 

Before  the  Revolution  came  the  premonitory 
breezes  of  philosophical  philanthropy  wafted  across 
the  Alps  from  the  Encyclopedists.  As  they  affected 
the  various  rulers  differently,  it  is  necessary  to  de- 
scend to  some  particulars.  In  Piedmont  no  philo- 
sophical philanthropy  warmed  the  king  ;  he  wrapped 
his  cloak  tighter  about  him.  and  deemed  the  old 
ways  good  enough.  He  maintained  his  court  in 
imitation  of  Versailles,  and  drilled  his  soldiers  in  im- 
itation  of   Frederick  the  Great.     Nobles  alone  were 

employed  in  the  higher  ranks  of  the  civil  Bervice, 
cobles  alone  were  made  officers  in  the  army;  in  re- 
turn, they  were  treated  like  schoolboys,  not  allowed 

to  leave  a  prescribed  path  without  permission.   The 

clergy  had  the  privileges  of  the  Old  regime;  their  tri- 
bunals had  sole  jurisdiction  over  priests, and  tried  t«» 

maintain    jurisdiction    over    the   laitv  for  all   offences 


362        A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF  ITALY 

that  had  a  smack  of  sin.  King,  nobility,  and  clergy 
clung  to  the  autocracy,  and  were  resolved  to  maintain 
it  in  full  vigour.  A  rash  admirer  of  Montesquieu 
wrote  a  treatise  upon  "Constitutional  Monarchy," 
and  was  put  in  prison. 

In  Lombardy  the  House  of  Austria  really  plunged 
into  reform;  it  reorganized  the  administration,  reap- 
portioned taxes,  curtailed  clerical  privileges,  abol- 
ished the  Inquisition,  improved  roads,  favoured 
agriculture,  stimulated  trade,  and  encouraged  man- 
ufacture. New  ideas  were  broached.  Beccaria  pub- 
lished his  famous  book  "On  Crimes  and  Punish- 
ments," which  began  the  attack  on  the  atrocious,  old 
penal  cruelties.  French  philosophy  was  discussed. 
The  physicist  Volta,  famous  for  his  electrical  dis- 
coveries, occupied  a  chair  in  the  university  at  Pavia. 
Austrian  garrisons  indeed  were  on  duty,  but  Lom- 
bardy prospered  as  it  had  not  done  since  the  days  of 
the  Sforzas. 

In  Venice  the  new  ideas  did  not  affect  the  gov- 
ernment. The  old  system  continued.  The  Great 
Council  of  Patricians  sat  in  conservative  indolence ; 
the  ornamental  Doge  shuffled  about,  the  Senate 
talked,  and  the  Council  of  Ten  maintained  its 
petty  despotism.  Venice  was  moribund.  Her  voice 
was  no  more  heard  in  European  affairs.  Her  army 
had  dwindled  to  a  few  undisciplined  and  inefficient 
regiments;  her  arsenal  was  little  employed.  Gayety, 
luxury,  vice,  reigned  triumphant ;  all  the  young 
blades  of  Europe  went  thither  to  carouse. 

In  Parma  the  flood  of  philanthropic  reform  had 
flowed  strong;  the  minister  of  state,  a  Frenchman, 


THE   NAPOLEONIC   ERA  363 

full  of  Parisian  ideas,  had  introduced  many  benefi- 
cial changes,  but  a  new  duke,  dissipated  and  devout, 
slipped  back  into  the  old  ways ;  and  its  little  neigh- 
bour, Modena,  concentrated  its  attention  on  avoid- 
ance of  all  possible  offence  to  its  neighbours. 

In  Tuscany,  an  appanage  of  Austria,  reform 
bounded  along.  The  Grand  Duke,  Leopold  I,  pro- 
posed to  destroy  every  remnant  of  the  Middle  Ages  ; 
he  attacked  the  power  of  the  ubiquitous  priests, 
granted  free  trade  in  grain,  and  equalized  taxes,  — 
without  discrimination  even  in  favour  of  his  own  es- 
tates. He  improved  the  universities  of  Pisa  and 
Siena,  drained  the  marshes  of  the  Maremma,  and  led 
the  way  in  abolishing  torture  and  capital  punish- 
ment ;  he  rendered  a  public  account  of  the  state's 
revenues  ;  and,  in  short,  put  in  practice  the  advanced 
philanthropic  ideas  on  government. 

In  the  Papal  States,  on  the  other  hand,  medieval- 
ism lay  heavy.  There  was  no  commerce,  no  manu- 
facture, little  agriculture.  Priests  were  everywhere, 
greedy  relations  of  the  Pope  almost  everywhere. 
No  laymen  were  given  office.  Ancona,  a  seaport,  and 
Bologna,  with  its  university,  were  the  only  exceptions 
to  general  wretchedness.  The  finances  were  in  ex- 
treme confusion;  the  offerings  of  the  faithful,  the 

sale  of  offices,  tin-  multiplication   of  taxes,  did   little 

more  than  pay  interest  on  the  bonded  debts.  Rome 
i  little,  unimportant,  ecclesiastica]  city. 
In  Naples,  however,  even  the  Bourbons  felt  the 
fresh  breath  <>i  reformation.  A  reforming  minister 
expelled  the  Jesuits  and  tried  to  reduce  the  number 
of  superfluous  priests,  monks,  and  nuns,  and  to  rool 


364        A   SHORT  HISTORY   OF  ITALY 

out  the  old  feudal  privileges.  In  the  city  itself 
a  goodly  company  of  men  gathered  together,  culti- 
vated ideas,  and  followed  the  lead  of  the  French 
philosophers.  Poor  Sicily,  overridden  by  barons  and 
priests,  lagged  behind,  a  prey  to  the  feudal  system, 
and  so  unsusceptible  to  new  ideas  that  the  reform- 
ing prime  minister  could  not  budge  the  dead  weight 
of  custom.  The  people  preferred  to  help  one  another 
in  their  own  way,  and  resorted  to  that  mysterious 
society,  the  Mafia. 

Thus  was  Italy,  half  philanthropically  inclined, 
half  despotically,  with  few  outward  indications  of 
the  great  awakening  of  the  nineteenth  century. 
One  such  indication  might  have  been  found  in  the 
life  and  character  of  a  gentleman  of  Turin.  Vittorio 
Alfieri  (1749-1803)  was  a  kind  of  antique  Roman, 
a  new  Brutus,  of  passionate  and  lofty  nature.  He 
embodied  his  ideas  of  liberty  in  classic  tragedies, 
which  stirred  Italian  manhood  in  those  days,  but  now 
are  extremely  tedious  to  read.  He  boldly  gave  vent 
to  his  hatred  of  foreign  oppression,  preached  free- 
dom, and  appealed  to  the  "  future  Italian  people." 
His  autobiography,  somewhat  condensed  and  expur- 
gated, might  be  put  into  Plutarch.  He  stands  in 
history,  not  as  a  great  tragedian,  but  as  the  first 
example  of  the  rebirth  of  that  antique  virility  which 
was  to  display  itself  so  brilliantly  in  the  nineteenth 
century. 

Down  into  this  little  world  of  periwigs  and  laven- 
der came  the  French  Revolution.  All  who  had  ap- 
plauded Alfieri's  tragedies  were  delighted,  except 
Alfieri  himself,   who   hated   the   French.     But  the 


THE   NAPOLEONIC   ERA  365 

Italian  princes  took  fright  at  the  democratic  vol- 
cano, and  talked  of  a  general  union  against  France. 
Piedmont  alone  was  vigorous  enough  to  take  action  ; 
she  made  a  league  with  Austria  (IT'.I'J).  Nothing- 
important  happened  until  young  Napoleon  took 
command  of  the  French  army  of  invasion  (17* Mi), 
and  began  to  tear  "  the  heart  out  of  Glory."  It 
would  be  useless  to  relate  in  detail  his  wonderful 
career  in  Italy.  He  arranged  the  peninsula  as  a 
housekeeper  shifts  the  furniture  in  an  unsatisfactory 
room.  He  took  Nice  and  Savoy  from  Piedmont, 
Lombardv  from  Austria,  formed  the  little  states 
south  of  the  Po  into  a  republic,  took  the  temporal 
power  from  the  Pope,  and  set  up  a  Roman  Republic. 
He  turned  the  Kingdom  of  Naples  into  a  republic 
and  then  back  again  into  a  kingdom,  first  for  his 
brother  Joseph,  and  then  for  his  general,  Marat 
(1808).  He  converted  Genoa  into  the  Republic  of 
Liguria.  Venice,  like  old  Priam  before  bloody 
Pyrrhus,  fell  at  the  whiff  ami  wind  of  the  victor's 
sword;  tin-  (neat  Council  resigned  without  a  strug- 
gle, and  the  Republic  of  St.  Mark  after  an  exist- 
ence of  a  thousand  years  came  to  its  end.  It  was 
then  handed  over  to  Austria,  but  after  Austerlitz 
taken  back  again.  In  180i>,  having  become  Em- 
peror,  Napoleon    turned    the    northern    part    of    the 

peninsula  into  the  Kingdom  of  Italv,  and  put  the 

iron  crown  of  Lombards'  on  his  own  head,  saving, 
"(Jod  has  given  it   to  me,  woe   to    him    thai    touches 

it."  In  1806  he  put  an  end  to  the  Holy  Roman 
Empire,  and  forced  the  Emperor,  Francis  II,  to  re- 
sign the  Imperial  crown. 


366         A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF  ITALY 

The  old  laws  of  political  gravitation  ceased  to 
act,  and  Italy  was  moulded  and  broken  and  moulded 
anew,  as  if  creation  had  begun  again.  The  revolu- 
tionary ideas  on  which  Napoleon's  power  at  first 
rested  had  spread  everywhere ;  liberty,  equality, 
democracy  were  a  part  of  every  man's  stock  of 
familiar  thoughts,  and  the  conception  of  an  Italian 
kingdom,  vaguely  associated  with  the  poetic  dreams 
of  Dante,  Petrarch,  Machiavelli,  had  become  a  polit- 
ical fact.  Italy  was  changed  forever,  the  old  Goldoni 
comedy  was  gone ;  Napoleon  had  given  the  coup  dc 
grace  to  the  old  regime. 

There  was  another  side  to  the  Napoleonic  domi- 
nation. A  multitude  of  men  had  been  forcibly  en- 
listed in  Napoleon's  armies ;  twenty-six  thousand,  it 
is  said,  perished  in  the  terrible  retreat  from  Moscow. 
The  French  were  arrogant  and  they  were  foreigners. 
Changes  had  been  made  too  quickly  and  with  too 
reckless  a  disregard  for  Italian  wishes.  Nobles  and 
clergy  had  been  despoiled  of  privileges,  peasants  had 
been  confused  and  bewildered,  the  pious  had  been 
scandalized  by  Napoleon's  treatment  of  the  Pope  ; 
all  these  longed  for  the  restoration  of  the  old  politi- 
cal divisions  and  of  the  old  easy  ways. 

After  Napoleon's  overthrow  the  Napoleonic  states 
in  Italy  fell  almost  immediately.  The  viceroy  of  the 
Italian  kingdom,  Napoleon's  stepson  Eugene  Beau- 
harnais,  slunk  away ;  and  in  the  south,  after  some 
vicissitudes,  Murat  was  caught  and  shot  (1815). 
Kings,  dukes,  and  Pope  came  tripping  back  to  their 
thrones.  The  Congress  of  Vienna  decided  that  the 
doctrines    of    the    French    Revolution    were    quite 


THE   NAPOLEONIC   ERA  367 

wrong,  that  law,  order,  and  the  principle  of  legiti- 
macy were  bound  up  together,  that  states  belonged 
to  their  royal  families  in  tail  male,  and  reparcelled 
Italy  among  its  petty  sovereigns,  acting  quite  as 
despotically  as  Napoleon  had  done.  It  gave  Venice 
to  Austria,  Genoa  to  Piedmont,  and  Parma  to  Marie 
Louise,  the  Austrian  wife  of  Napoleon,  for  her  life, 
as  she  had  to  be  decently  provided  for.  The  Dukes 
of  Parma  received  Lucca  until  her  death,  when  they 
were  to  return  to  Parma,  and  then  Lucca  was  to  be 
annexed  to  Tuscany.  Metternich,  Hardenberg,  Cas- 
tlereagh,  Talleyrand,  and  their  associates  compli- 
mented one  another  on  the  happy  completion  of 
their  task,  and  the  Congress  broke  up. 

In  Piedmont  the  king,  loyally  welcomed  home, 
put  back  everything  to  the  position  in  which  it  was 
before  the  disturbances  ;  the  old  dispossessed  nobles 
were  restored  to  their  places  in  the  civil  and  military 
service,  and  the  carriere  ouverte  aux  talents  was 
closed.  In  Lombardy  and  Venice  Austrian  officials 
held  a  tight  rein,  and  a  watchful  secret  service  (sbifn) 
prowled  aboat  ready  to  pounce  on  plotting  youth 
like  owls  upon  field  mice.  In  Parma  and  Modena 
the  eye  of  the  Austrian  government  was  always 
peering  and  peeping.  In  Tuscany  Austrian  Influence 
also  was  dominant ;  but  the  Grand  Duke  was  a  gentle, 

kindly,  paternal  person,  and  his  subjects  were  placidly 
content,  for  the  old   Tuscan   lire  had  died  out,  and 

no  Tuscan  was  so  orazy  as  to  dream  of  revolution  or 

of  a  united   Italy.     In   tin;   Papal   States  the  reaction 

was  complete  ;  tin-  Inquisition  was  restored,  the  Jes- 
uits recalled,  the  ciyil  service  limited  to  priests.    Hut 


368        A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF  ITALY 

in  Naples  the  reaction  was  worst.  The  despicable 
Ferdinand,  who  dropped  his  number  IV  of  Naples 
to  become  Ferdinand  I  of  the  Two  Sicilies,  restored 
the  old  regime,  and  swept  away  the  autonomy  of 
Sicily,  which  had  had  a  separate  parliament  for  hun- 
dreds of  years,  and  since  1812  a  constitution  also. 
Ferdinand  humbly  followed  every  hint  from  Austria. 
The  will  of  Austria  was  supreme  from  Venice  to 
Naples,  and  behind  Austria  was  the  conservative 
judgment  of  the  ruling  classes  of  all  Europe,  still 
frightened  by  the  Revolution.  European  nobles  and 
landowners  agreed  that  the  riotous  desires  of  the 
middle  class  and  proletariat  for  political  privileges 
must  be  crushed  down. 


CHAPTER   XXXV 

THE   REAWAKENING  (1820-1S21) 

Outwardly  despotism  had  been  triumphantly  rees- 
tablished, and  Popes,  princes,  and  privileged  per- 
sons in  general  made  a  gallant  attempt  to  pretend 
that  the  French  Revolution  and  the  Napoleonic 
upheaval  had  never  taken  place.  Nevertheless,  the 
quiet  on  the  surface  did  not  extend  underneath. 
Inwardly  the  new  ideas  and  aspirations  were  fer- 
menting from  Piedmont  to  Calabria.  The  Carbo- 
nari  (Charcoal-burners),  a  secret  society  organized 
against  despotism,  plotted  for  freedom  and  for  con- 
stitutions. Their  members  were  thickest  in  the 
Kingdom  of  Naples,  but  spread  throughout  Italy. 
The  spark  necessary  to  set  ablaze  this  hidden  dis- 
content came  from  Spain.  There  a  successful  re- 
bellion obtained  a  constitution.  The  thrill  stirred 
Naples.  A  company  of  soldiers  under  two  young 
lieutenants  rebelled  (1820),  many  joined  them,  a 
general  put  himself  at  their  head.  The  army  would 
not  fi"ht  them.  The  insurgents  demanded  a  consti- 
tution,  with  a  parliament,  a  free  press,  trials  accord- 
ing to  law,  etc.  The  dastardly  king  was  rriffhtened 
into  promises,  bul  as  the  insurgents  were  not  con- 
tent with  promises,  he  granted  a  constitution,  and 
solemnly  swore  to  maintain  it.  These  revolutionary 
tumults,   however,   had   alarmed   the  comfortable, 


370    A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  ITALY 

conservative  ruling  classes  and  their  leaders,  the 
Emperors  of  Austria,  Prussia,  and  Russia.  An  Im- 
perial conference  was  held  at  Laybach  (1821),  and 
Ferdinand  attended.  The  new  constitution,  indeed, 
forbade  him  to  leave  the  kingdom  without  per- 
mission from  parliament,  but  he  had  obtained  leave 
by  promising  to  argue  in  favour  of  the  new  regime. 
Whatever  his  arguments  were  the  Holy  Alliance 
disregarded  them,  and  charged  Austria  with  the  duty 
of  restoring  despotism  in  Naples.  Austria  obeyed. 
An  overpowering  army  easily  scattered  the  Neapoli- 
tan constitutionalists  and  put  Ferdinand  back.  The 
constitution,  parliament,  free  press,  and  all  the  other 
obnoxious  revolutionary  institutions  were  brushed 
away,  and  Ferdinand,  having  hung  up  in  church  a 
lamp  of  gold  and  silver  as  an  offset  to  his  perjury, 
inflicted  punishment  on  the  late  rebels  as  fast  as  he 
could. 

Meanwhile  the  North  had  felt  the  thrill.  In  Lom- 
bardy  the  hawk-eyed  government  pounced  down  on 
possible  conspirators.  Silvio  Pellico,  the  pathetic 
author  of  "  Le  Mie  Prigioni  "  (My  Prisons),  and  his 
friend  Maroncelli,  were  arrested  and  put  into  prison 
(1820),  there  to  stay  for  ten  years.  A  little  later 
Confalonieri,  head  of  the  Milanese  nobility,  and  a 
group  of  gentlemen  were  seized  and  sent  to  prison. 
They  were  set  free  only  in  1836,  on  the  accession  of 
a  new  Emperor.  Some  of  them,  Castillia,  Foresti,  and 
Albinola,  then  sought  refuge  in  the  United  States. 
I  quote  from  the  unpublished  diary  of  an  American 
to  show  what  kind  of  men  these  conspirators  were: 
"  Castillia  is  an  Italian,  of  an  honourable  Milanese 


THE    REAWAKENING  371 

family.  At  the  age  of  twenty-three  he,  with  other 
noble  and  brave  Italians,  lovers  of  their  country,  was 
thrown  into  the  dungeons  of  Spielberg  (Moravia) 
by  Austrian  despots, and  there  chained  and  confined, 

sometimes  in  total  solitude,  enduring  the  Bharpesl 
privations  and  basest  ignominies  for  seventeen  years. 
Then  on  the  accession  of  a  new  Emperor  they  were 
released  and  exiled  to  America  —  they  were  men  of 
superior  intelligence  and  education,  honourable  gen- 
tlemen, true-hearted,  loving  men  —  Castillia  possessed 
all  the  virtues  that  one  can  name  and  in  their  most 
attractive  forms." 

What  these  gentlemen  suffered  for  love  of  their 
country  may  be  read  in  "  Le  Mie  Prigioni."  Pellico 
himself  was  a  Christian  saint.  After  years  of  solitary 
confinement  he  and  Maroncelli  were  put  together. 
Maroncelli  had  a  tumour  on  his  leg,  which  grew  so 
painful  that  whenever  it  was  necessary  to  move 
Pellico  helped  him.  "  Sometimes  to  make  the  slight- 
est Bhifi  from  one  position  to  another  cost  a  quarter 
of  an  hour  of  agony."  The  wound  was  frightful 
and  disgusting.  I  quote  from  Pellico:  "  In  that  de- 
plorable condition  Maroncelli  composed  poetry,  he 
sang  and  talked,  and  did  everything  t<>  deceive  me 

and  hide  from  me  a  pari  of   his  pain.     He  Could  not 

digest,   "i-   Bleep;    lie   grew   alarmingly    thin,   and 

often  went  out  dl'  his  head  J  and  yet,  in  a  lew  niin- 
iin •>  gathered  himself  together  ami  cheered  me  up. 
What  he  Buffered  lor  nine  months  is  indescribable. 
Amputation  was  necessary;  hut  first  the  Burgeon 
had  to  gel  permission  from  Vienna    Maroncelli  ut- 

;  no  cry  at    tin-   operation,  and  when  he  saw  the 


372         A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF  ITALY 

leg  carried  off  said  to  the  surgeon,  '  You  have  liber- 
ated me  from  an  enemy,  and  I  have  no  way  to  thank 
you.'  By  the  window  stood  a  tumbler  with  a  rose  in 
it.  *  Please  give  me  that  rose/  he  said  to  me.  I 
handed  it  to  him,  and  he  gave  it  to  the  old  sur- 
geon, saying,  '  I  have  nothing  else  to  give  you 
in  testimony  of  my  gratitude.'  The  surgeon  took 
the  rose  and  burst  into  tears."  Such  was  the  char- 
acter of  the  men  who  plotted  for  the  freedom  of 
Italy. 

The  Papal  States  likewise  had  been  quivering. 
Lord  Byron  was  in  Ravenna  at  the  time.  He  en- 
rolled in  the  Carbonari,  and  sent  a  thousand  louis 
to  the  Neapolitan  Constitutional  Government  with 
an  offer  to  serve  wherever  and  in  whatever  capacity 
they  should  desire.  His  letters  and  diary  help  us  to 
understand  the  situation. 


BYRON   TO  MURRAY,  HIS  PUBLISHER 

November  23,  1820. 
Of  the  state  of  things  here  it  would  be  difficult  and  not 
very  prudent  to  speak  at  large,  the  Huns  [Austrians]  open- 
ing all  letters.  I  wonder  if  they  can  read  them  when 
they  have  opened  them  ;  if  so  they  may  see  in  my  most 
legible  hand  that  I  think  them  damned  scoundrels  and 
barbarians,  and  their  Emperor  a  fool,  and  themselves 
more  fools  than  he  ;  all  which  they  may  send  to  Vienna 
for  anything  I  care.  They  have  got  themselves  masters  of 
the  papal  police  and  are  bullying  away,  but  some  day  or 
other  they  will  pay  for  all ;  it  may  not  be  very  soon  be- 
cause these  unhappy  Italians  have  no  consistency  among 
themselves  ;  but  I  suppose  that  Providence  will  get  tired 
of  them  at  last. 


THE    REAWAKENING  373 


SAME    TO    SAME 

December  9. 
I  open  my  letter  to  tell  you  a  fact  which  will  show  the 
state  of  this  country  better  than  I  can.  The  commandant 
of  the  troops  is  now  lying  dead  in  my  house.  I  !••  was  shot 
about  two  hundred  paces  from  my  door.  ...  As  nobody 
could  or  would  do  anything  but  howl  and  pray,  and  as  no 
one  would  stir  a  finger  to  move  him  for  fear  of  conse- 
quences, I  had  the  commandant  carried  upstairs  t<>  my 
own  quarters.  .  .  .  Poor  fellow,  he  was  a  brave  officer 
but  much  disliked  by  the  people. 

EXTRACTS    FROM   BYRON'S   DIARY 

January  6,  1821. 
To-night  at  the  theatre,  there  being  a  prince  on  his 
throne  in  the  last  scene  of  the  comedy,  the  audience 
laughed  and  asked  him  for  a  constitution.  This  shows  tin 
state  of  the  public  mind  here  as  well  as  the  assassinations. 
It  won't  do.  There  must  be  a  universal  republic,  and  there 
ought  to  be. 

January  7. 
The  Count  Pietro  Gamba  took  me  aside  to  Bay  that  the 
Patriots  had  bad  notice  from  Forli  [twenty   miles  awaj 
that  to-night  the  government  and  its  party  mean  to  strike 
a  stroke,   that  the  Cardinal   here  has  had  Olden   to  make 

several  arrests  immediately,  and  that  in  consequence  the 

Liberals  are  arriving  and  have  posted  patrols  in  the  streets, 
to  sound  tin-  alarm  ami  give  notice  to  fight.     He  asked  me 

"what  should  be  done/'  I  answered, M  Fight  for  it,  rather 
than  betaken  in  detail;"  and  offered  if  any  of  them  are 
in  immediate  apprehension  of  arrest  to  receive  them  in  my 
house  (which  is  defensible}, and  to  defend  them  with  my 

tnti  and  themselves  (  we  have  arms  and  ammunition  ) 
as   long   SS    ITS   ''an.  or   to    try    to    get    thrm    away    under 


374         A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

cloud  of  night.    On  going  home  I  offered  him  the  pistols 
which  1  had  about  me. 

January  8. 

Rose  and  found  Count  Pietro  Gamba  in  my  apartments. 
Sent  away  the  servant.  He  told  me  that  according  to  the 
best  information,  the  government  had  not  issued  orders 
for  the  arrests  apprehended  ;  and  that  as  yet  they  are  still 
only  in  apprehension.  He  asked  me  for  some  arms  of  a 
better  sort,  which  I  gave  him.  Settled  that  in  case  of  a 
row  the  Liberals  were  to  assemble  here  (with  me)  and  that 
he  had  given  the  word  to  the  others  for  that  purpose. 
Concerted  operations.  I  advised  them  to  attack  in  detail 
and  in  different  parties,  in  different  places,  though  at  the 
Bame  time,  so  as  to  divide  the  attention  of  the  troops,  who 
though  few  yet  being  disciplined  would  beat  any  body  of 
people  (not  trained)  in  a  regular  fight,  unless  dispersed 
in  small  parties  and  distracted  with  different  assaults. 
Offered  to  let  them  assemble  here  if  they  chose.  It  is  a 
strongish  post  —  narrow  street,  commanded  from  within 
—  and  tenable  walls.  .  .  . 

I  wonder  what  figure  these  Italians  will  make  in  a 
regular  row.  I  sometimes  think  that  like  the  Irishman's 
crooked  gun  they  will  do  only  for  shooting  round  a  cor- 
ner :  at  least  this  sort  of  shooting  has  been  the  late  tenour 
of  their  exploits.  And  yet  there  are  materials  in  this 
people  and  a  noble  energy  if  well  directed.  But  who  is  to 
direct  them  9  No  matter.  Out  of  such  times  heroes  spring. 
Difficulties  are  the  hotbed  of  high  spirits  and  Freedom 
the  mother  of  the  few  virtues  incident  to  human  nature. 

January  9. 
They  say  the  King  of  Naples  has  declared,  by  couriers 
from  Florence,  to  the  Powers  (as  they  call  now  those 
wretches  with  crowns)  that  his  constitution  was  compul- 
sive, and  that  the  Austrian  barbarians  are  placed  again  on 
war  pay  and  will  march.    Let  them,  —  "  they  come  like 


THE   REAWAKENING  375 

sacrifices  in  their  trim,"  —  the  hounds  of  hell !  Let  it  be  a 
hope  to  see  their  bones  piled  like  those  of  the  human  dogs 
at  Morat.  in  Switzerland. 

January  20. 

Met  a  company  of  the  sect  (a  kind  of  Liberal  Club) 
called  the  American]  in  the  forest,  and  singing  with 
all  their  might  in  Romagnuol  "  Sem  tut ti  soldat'  per  la 
liberta  "  —  (We  are  all  soldiers  for  liberty  ).  They  cheered 
me  as  I  passed  ;  I  returned  their  salute  and  rode  on.  This 
may  show  the  spirit  of  Italy  at  present. 

They  say  that  the  Piedmontese  have  at  length  risen  — 
ca  ira ! 

The  news  from  Piedmont  was  true.  Some  officers 
in  the  army  proposed  to  demand  a  constitution 
from  the  king  and  then  force  him  into  war  with 
Austria.  They  believed  that  Prince  Carlo  Alberto, 
who  stood  next  but  one  in  succession  to  the  throne, 
though  only  a  distant  cousin  of  the  soilless  king. 
was  in  sympathy  with  them  and  would  act  with  them. 
How  far  they  were  justified  in  this  belief  is  uncer- 
tain. The  Leading  conspirators  bad  an  interview  with 
him,  and  thought  they  received  satisfactory  assur- 
ances. In  subsequent  explanations  he  denied  any 
such  assurances.  Thus  encouraged,  the  garrisons  of 
Alexandria   and   Turin    hoisted   the  tricolour  <d'   the 

Carbonari, and  made  their  demands.    The  old  king, 

Yittorio  Kuiaiiiiele.  not  knowing  what  to  do.  resigned 

in  favour  of  his  younger  brother,  Carlo  Felice,  who 
was  then  absent,  and  appointed  Carlo  Alberto  regent 
during  the  new  king's  absence.  Carlo  Alberto,  always 
infirm  of  purpose,  with  doubt  and  hesitation  took  the 
opportunity  and  proclaimed  a  constitution  (March, 


376         A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF  ITALY 

1821).  But  the  new  king,  apprised  of  this  wild  act, 
at  once  annulled  it,  and  bade  Carlo  Alberto  leave  the 
country.  Poor  Carlo  Alberto  was  in  a  sad  dilemma  : 
should  he  obey  his  king  and  abandon  his  liberal 
friends,  or  cleave  to  them  and  be  disloyal  to  the 
king?  He  obeyed  and  went  to  Tuscany.  An  Aus- 
trian army  aided  the  king  to  suppress  the  revolt. 
.The  liberals  escaped  as  best  they  could.  Some  fled 
to  Spain  by  way  of  Genoa,  where  they  were  seen 
by  Giuseppe  Mazzini,  a  lad  of  sixteen,  who  there- 
upon resolved  "  that  one  could,  and  therefore  one 
must,  struggle  for  the  liberty  of  Italy." 

Thus  the  revolutionary  storms  swept  by ;  the 
sbinn  resumed  their  old  methods  of  prying  and 
spying,  and  dukes  and  kings  deemed  themselves 
secure  of  their  own  again. 


CHAPTER   XXXVI 

PERTURBED  INACTIVITY  (1821-1S47) 

After  1821  followed  ten  years  of  outward  repose. 
Times  were  hard  for  lovers  of  independence,  but 
hope  and  purpose  had  been  let  loose,  and  in  dark 
corners,  cloaking  themselves  as  best  they  could,  the 
friends  of  freedom  groped  their  way.  Openly  little 
was  done  except  by  exiles,  but  indirect  aid  came 
from  literature,  which  followed  the  romantic  move- 
ment, and  loudly  asserted  the  revolutionary  ideas. 
There  was  Ugo  Foscolo,  the  poet,  half  Venetian, 
half  Greek,  who  after  the  return  of  the  Austrians 
refused  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance  and  Hed  to 
England,  giving,  aa  was  said,  "to  New  Italy  a  new 
institution,  Exile;"  Giovanni  Berchet,  of  Milan, 
poet  and  man  of  letters;  Gabriele  Rossetti,  of  the 
Abruzzi,  father  of  Dante  Rossetti,  a  poet  himself; 
and  many  others.  By  far  the  most  distinguished 
was  Alessandro  Manzoni,  a  quiet,  dignified  Milanese 
gentleman,  who  wrote  patriotic  plays,  and  the  famous 
romance,"]  Promessi  Sposi"  (The  Plighted  Lot* 
He  cheered   and  comforted   bis  compatriots 

with  the   thought   that   in  him  they  possessed  a  man 
of  letters  whom    Burope   recognized   as    the   peer    of 

Scott,  Byron,  and  Goethe.    Scott  praised  >%  I   I'ro- 

messi  >|>o»i  "  most  generously,  ami  Goethe  said.  "  It 

natisfiea  at  like  perfectly  ripe  fruit." 


378         A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF  ITALY 

Greater  than  Manzoni,  though  at  the  time  less 
widely  known,  was  the  sad  poet,  Giacomo  Leopardi, 
indisputably  the  greatest  Italian  poet  since  Tasso, 
and  in  the  judgment  of  some  men  to-day,  owing 
perhaps  to  greater  sympathy  with  his  sentiments, 
superior  to  Tasso.  Leopardi  raised  Italian  self-re- 
spect, as  Manzoni  did,  by  proof  that  the  genius  of 
the  race  still  lived.  He  wrote  the  most  patriotic 
odes  since  Petrarch.  Of  these  the  poem  "  To  Italy" 
is  perhaps  most  famous.    It  begins  :  — 

O  my  country,  I  see  the  walls,  the  arches, 

The  columns,  the  statues,  the  defenceless  towers 

Of  our  forefathers, 

But  the  glory  I  do  not  see. 

Leopardi's  wretchedness,  in  great  measure  purely 
personal,  was  matched  by  that  of  his  country. 
Austrian  soldiers,  ducal  sbirri,  and  Jesuits  did 
their  best  to  destroy  all  vigour,  life,  and  freedom. 
The  press  was  stifled ;  no  allusion  to  freedom  was 
allowed.  In  a  chorus  of  Bellini's  opera  "  I  Puritani  " 
the  word  liberty  was  stricken  out  by  the  censor  and 
loyalty  substituted ;  and  a  singer  who  forgot  the 
change  was  sent  to  prison  for  three  days.  Things 
were  best  in  Tuscany  and  worst  in  Naples,  where 
Francis  I,  a  rake,  bigot,  and  coward,  practised  the 
utmost  cruelty.  After  an  insurrection  in  a  village, 
twenty-six  heads  were  cut  off  at  his  command,  and 
exhibited  in  cages ;  and  once,  when  a  grandmother 
besought  mercy  for  her  two  grandsons  who  were 
condemned  to  death,  he  bade  her  choose  one.  She 
chose  one ;  the  other  was  shot,  and  she  went  mad. 

The  ten  long   years  of    inaction  at    last    passed 


PERTURBED    INACTIVITY  379 

away,  and  another  wave  of  exasperated  indepen- 
dence and  patriotism  swept  over  the  peninsula. 
The  French  Revolution  of  1830  was  the  proximate 

cause.  This  time,  while  Piedmont  and  Naples  re- 
mained quiet,  for  most  of  their  Leaders  were  in 
exile  or  in  prison,  Parma,  Modena.  and  the  Romagna 
burst  into  insurrection  ;  but  the  Austrian  soldiers 
marched  in,  suppressed  the  revolt,  and  reseated 
duke,  duchess,  and  Pope.  The  attention  of  the  world, 
however,  had  been  called  to  priestly  government  in 
the  Romagna,  and  the  five  great  Powers,  —  England, 
France,  Austria,  Prussia,  and  Russia,  —  not  wishing 
a  hotbed  of  justifiable  revolt  on  the  same  Continent 
with  comfortable  and  privileged  ruling  classes,  wrote 
a  collective  note  to  the  Pope  in  which  they  insisted 
on  certain  reforms  as  indispensable.  The  papal 
Curia  made  promises,  but  did  nothing,  and  all  Italy 
relapsed  outwardly  into  the  condition  in  which  she 
had  been  during  the  ten  years  of  inaction. 

Nevertheless,  the  forces  underneath,  plotting  and 

(■•inspiring  for  Freedom,  were  stronger  than  before, 
and  here  and  there  indications  of  this  growing  sen- 
timent cropped  ont.  In  1831,  after  the  ill-fated, 
melancholy,  distrusting, and  distrusted  ( larlo  Alberto 
had  Bucceeded  t<>  the  Kingdom  of  Sardinia,  an 
anonymous  letter  addressed  to  him  was  spread 
broadcast  over  Italy.  This  letter  bade  him  choose 
between  two  courses,  —  either  to  lead  the  national 
movement, or  to  be  basely  servile  to  Austria.  u  Bend 
vonr  bach  under  the  German  (Austrian)  whip  and 
be  a  tyrant —  But,  if  as  jrou  read  these  words  your 

mind   runs    back  to    that  time  when    \<>u  dared    look 


380         A   SHORT   HISTORY  OF  ITALY 

higher  than  the  lordship  of  a  German  fief,  and  if 
you  hear  within  a  voice  that  cries  '  You  were  born 
for  something  great,'  oh,  obey  that  voice ;  it  is  the 
voice  of  genius,  of  opportunity,  that  offers  you  its 
hand  to  mount  from  century  to  century  as  far  as  im- 
mortality ;  it  is  the  voice  of  all  Italy,  who  awaits 
but  one  word,  one  single  word,  to  make  herself  all 
your  own.  Give  her  that  word.  Put  yourself  at  the 
head  of  the  nation,  and  on  your  banner  write  Union, 
Freedom,  Independence.  Sire,  according  to  your 
answer,  be  sure  that  posterity  will  pronounce  you 
either  the  first  of  Italian  Men,  or  the  last  of  Italian 
Tyrants.    Choose." 

Carlo  Alberto,  melancholy  as  Hamlet,  for  the  bur- 
den put  upon  him  was  greater  than  his  strength, 
continued  inactive,  distrusted,  and  distrusting.  His 
only  answer  was  to  give  sharper  orders  against  con- 
spirators. The  writer  of  the  letter  was  a  young  Gen- 
oese of  grave  countenance,  with  a  sweet  mouth  and 
sad,  handsome  eyes,  Giuseppe  Mazzini,  aged  twenty- 
six,  who  had  already  abandoned  law  for  literature, 
and  literature  for  his  country.  Suspected  of  being  a 
Carbonaro,  he  had  been  arrested  and  put  in  prison. 
His  father,  having  asked  the  reason,  was  told  that 
"  his  son  was  a  young  man  of  talents,  very  fond  of 
solitary  walks  at  night,  and  habitually  silent  as  to 
the  subject  of  his  meditations,  and  that  the  Sar- 
dinian government  was  not  fond  of  young  men  of 
talents  the  subject  of  whose  meditations  it  did  not 
know."  In  prison  Mazzini  became  convinced  that 
the  true  aim  of  patriots  was  the  unity  of  all  Italy, 
and  that  the  means  should  be  the  people,  not  the 


PERTURBED    INACTIVITY  381 

princes.  After  a  few  months  of  imprisonment  he 
was  banished.    It  was  then  that  he  wrote  the  letter. 

In  exile  he  began  the  task  of  rousing  the  Italian 
people  throughout  the  peninsula  to  the  need  of 
common  effort  for  a  common  end.  He  organized  a 
secret  society,  and  named  it  Young  Italy.  Its  pur- 
pose was  to  make  Italy  free,  united,  and  republican. 
The  first  article  of  its  constitution  read  :  "  This 
society  is  instituted  for  the  destruction,  now  become 
indispensable,  of  all  the  governments  of  the  penin- 
sula, and  for  the  union  of  all  Italy  in  a  single  state 
under  republican  government."  The  new  society 
spread  rapidly,  and  was,  perhaps,  the  greatest  in- 
dividual cause  of  final  success. 

Mazzini  was  a  master  conspirator,  a  very  St.  Paul 
of  the  Risorgimento.  His  whole  life  was  a  passion- 
ate renunciation  of  all  the  pleasures  and  comforts 
for  which  most  men  live,  and  a  passionate  dedication 
of  himself  to  his  ideals.  He  is  a  striking  illustration 
of  the  saying,  The  man  whose  heart  is  lifted  up 
within  him  shall  not  find  the  path  smooth  before 
him,  but  the  just  shall  live  by  his  faith.  His  ideals 
soared  higher  and  higher  ;  not  content  with  hope 
for  Italy.  In-  made  plans  for  helping  all  Europe.  He 
mean  object  of  BUBpicion  all  over  the  Continent, 

and  was  driven  from  country  to  country,  till  he  finally 
went  to  England,  but  he  never  ceased  t<>  preach  and 
teach,  to  urge  and  encourage,  to  plol  and  counter- 
plot. He  believed  in  sacrifice,  both  of  himself  and 
of  others,  and  Instigated  desperate  uprisings.   One 

of   these,  a   wild    invasion  of    Piedmonl   Vfhioh    eanie 

to  nothing,  is  memorable  because  among  the  li 


382         A   SHORT   HISTORY  OF   ITALY 

those  who  were  subsequently  proscribed  for  partici- 
pation in  it  was  a  young  seaman,  a  native  of  Nice, 
then  a  part  of  Savoy,  Giuseppe  Garibaldi.  Mazzini 
himself  stayed  in  England,  where  the  crudest  accu- 
sations were  made  against  him.  He  endured  slander, 
malice,  poverty,  outward  failure,  still  steadfast  at 
his  task.  He  says,  "  I  have  not  for  an  instant  thought 
that  unhappiness  may  influence  our  actions."  He 
knew  Carlyle,  who  bore  witness  in  his  favour:  "I  have 
had  the  honour  to  know  Mr.  Mazzini  for  a  series  of 
years,  and  whatever  I  may  think  of  his  practical 
insight  and  skill  in  worldly  affairs,  I  can  with  great 
freedom  testify  that  he,  if  I  have  ever  seen  one  such, 
is  a  man  of  genius  and  virtue,  one  of  those  rare 
men,  numerable  unfortunately  but  as  units  in  this 
wrorld,  who  are  worthy  to  be  called  martyr  souls  ; 
who,  in  silence,  piously  in  their  daily  life  understand 
and  practise  what  is  meant  by  that." 

While  Young  Italy  and  the  Carbonari  worked  in 
secret,  literature  continued  to  carry  on  the  task  of 
arousing  enthusiasm  for  national  achievements  and 
national  ideals.  The  patient  piety  of  Silvio  Pelli- 
co's  "  Le  Mie  Prigioni  "  was  a  most  effective  denun- 
ciation  of  Austrian  tyranny  ;  the  plays  of  Giovan 
Battista  Niccolini,  of  Florence,  on  subjects  famous 
for  Italian  patriotism,  were  stirring  appeals  against 
despotism,  civil  and  ecclesiastical ;  the  romantic 
novels  of  Massimo  d'  Azeglio,  of  Piedmont,  the 
patriot  painter  and  statesman,  reminded  youth  of 
the  great  days  of  old  ;  other  novels,  passionate  and 
patriotic,  by  Tommaso  Grossi,  of  Belluno,  and  by 
Francesco  Domenico  Guerrazzi,  of  Leghorn,  did  like- 


PERTURBED   INACTIVITY  383 

wise.  These  romances  so  pitifully  uninteresting  to- 
day did  much  ;  but  a  book  of  a  different  character 
had  in  its  way  a  still  more  brilliant  career.  Vincenzo 
Gioberti,  of  Turin,  began  life  by  taking  orders;  he 
became  patriotic,  was  Buspected,  imprisoned,  exiled; 
in  exile  he  studied,  taught,  and  thought.  In  L843 
he  published  in  Brussels  "  II  primato  morale  e 
civile  degli  Italiani"  (The  Mora]  and  Civil  Pri- 
macy of  the  Italians),  a  book  that  rehearsed  the  old 
glory  of  Italy  and  pointed  out  new  ways  bj  which 
that  ancient  glory  might  lie  renewed.  Gioberti  ad- 
vocated a  confederation  of  the  Italian  States 
eluding  the  Austrian  provinces)  with  the  Pope  at  its 
head.  The  book  had  tremendous  success;  its  ideas 
were  accepted  and  became  a  party  creed;  and  Gio- 
berti  is  entitled  to  rank  as  one  of  the  factors  in  the 
Risorgimento.  Oddly  enough,  as  it  seems  to  us  now, 
his  plan  was  on  the  verge  of  execution. 

At  this  time  Gregory  XVI  was  Pope,  a  reaction- 
ary man,  devoted  to  ecclesiastical  history,  and,  ac- 
cording to  his  detractors,  to  Orvietan  wine.  He 
showed  the  extreme  of  papal  incapacity  for  civil 
administration  ;  in  the  papal  cities  was  Boualor,  in 
the  country  brigandage,  in  both  dense  ignorance. 
But  on  'hviiia's  death  Cardinal  Mastai-Ferretti, 
an  amiable,  Bmiling,  charming,  handsome,  liberal- 
minded  cardinal^  who  had  applauded  Gioberti,  be- 
came   I'iux    IX    (July,    L846).     Within   a    month    or 

two  I'in^  granted  amnesty  to  political  prisoners,  ap- 
pointed a  commission  to  Btudy  the  accessary  re- 
forms in  his  states;  permitted,  tacitlj  at  least, 
liberty  of  the  press;  announced  a  Council  ol  State 


384        A   SHORT  HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

to  consist  of  lay  members;  and  authorized  the  or- 
ganization of  a  civic  guard.  Pie  was  hailed  with 
enthusiasm  throughout  the  peninsula.  Here  was 
Gioberti's  ideal  Pope.  Here  was  the  man  to  lead  the 
Italian  Guelfs  and  drive  the  Barbarians  from  Italy. 

That  the  ecclesiastical  head  of  organized  conserv- 
atism, the  great  bulwark  of  authority,  the  main- 
tainer  of  ancient  things,  should  be  hailed  as  a  saviour 
by  men  desiring  independence,  freedom,  and  war, 
needs  a  word  of  further  explanation.  In  this  period 
of  decadence  and  servitude,  while  Austrian  officers 
played  the  peacock  on  every  piazza  from  Milan  to 
Naples,  Italians  could  remember  that  an  Italian  Pope 
was  head  of  the  greatest  corporate  body  in  the  world, 
that  tribute  was  paid  into  his  treasury  from  every 
country  in  Europe,  that  kings  treated  him  with 
deference,  and  that  from  East  and  West  hundreds 
of  servant  bishops  came  to  the  foot  of  his  throne. 
These  thoughts,  coupled  with  inapplicable  mem- 
ories and  desperate  hopes,  led  men  to  regard  Pius 
IX  as  the  predestined  leader  of  the  liberal  move- 
ment ;  and  shouts  of  "  Hurrah  for  Italy,  the  Pope, 
and  the  Constitution ! "  were  heard  throughout  the 
peninsula. 

Hope,  too,  arose  in  Piedmont.  King  Carlo  Alberto 
received  Massimo  d'  Azeglio  in  audience  (1845),  and 
bade  his  astonished  subject  tell  his  friends  that  when 
the  occasion  should  present  itself,  his  own  life,  his 
sons'  lives,  his  treasure,  and  his  army  wrould  all  be 
spent  for  the  Italian  cause.  A  year  later  the  king 
withstood  Austria  in  a  dispute  over  customs ;  and 
a  little  later  still,  at  an  agrarian  congress  a  member 


PERTURBED   INACTIVITY  385 

rose  and  read  a  letter  from  the  kino-  which  ended, 
"  If  ever  God  shall  <rive  ns  grace  to  be  able  to  on- 
dertake  a  war  of  independence,  no  one  but  me  shall 
command  the  army.  Oh,  what  a  glorious  day  will 
that  be  when  we  shall  be  able  to  utter  the  cij  of 
national  independence  !  " 

Thus  encouraged  by  king  and  Pope  patriots, 
from  Piedmont  to  Sicily,  waited  in  tremulous  expec- 
tation for  the  cominc:  of  sjreat  events. 


CHAPTER   XXXVII 

TUMULTUOUS  YEARS  (1848-1849) 

The  period  of  waiting  for  coming  events  was  short. 
The  whole  Continent  of  Europe  was  straining  like  a 
greyhound  in  its  leash ;  Italy,  from  end  to  end,  was 
on  tiptoe  with  excitement ;  and  the  year  1848  came 
rushing  in  with  swashbuckler  fury. 

In  Italy  the  revolutionary  movement  began  in 
Palermo.  The  people  attacked  the  Bourbon  soldiers 
and  drove  them  out.  Their  example  was  followed 
throughout  the  island.  Across  the  channel  Naples 
arose  and  demanded  a  constitution.  The  frightened 
king  granted  it  (January  29).  In  Piedmont  at  an 
assemblage  of  journalists,  the  director  of  a  news- 
paper, "  The  Risorgimento,"  declared  that  the  time 
appropriate  to  petitions  for  the  banishment  of  the 
Jesuits  and  for  the  institution  of  a  national  guard  had 
passed,  and  that  a  constitution  should  be  demanded. 
The  speaker  was  a  stoutish  man  of  thirty-eight,  with 
a  square  face  under  a  high  forehead.  He  wore  spec- 
tacles, and  under  his  chin  a  fringe  of  beard  ran  round 
from  ear  to  ear  like  a  ravelled  bonnet  string  ;  he 
looked  like  a  distinguished  and  amiable  professor, 
except  that  there  was  a  pinch  to  his  nostrils  and  a 
compression  to  his  lips  which  suggested  an  arrogant 
lineage  and  inherited  notions  of  "  Let  those  take  that 
have  the  powrer,  and  let  them  keep  that  can."   In  fact, 


TUMULTUOUS   YEARS  387 

Count  Camillo  Cavour  belonged  to  the  old  Pied- 
montese  aristocracy.  As  a  lad  he  served  in  the 
engineer  corps  of  the  army,  then  travelled  in  Eng- 
land (which  he  admired  greatly)  and  in  France, 
studying-  all  kinds  of  social  matters,  from  machinery 
to  constitutions.  On  his  estates  he  was  a  practical 
farmer,  and  he  took  keen  interest  in  public  life.  It 
was  at  this  time  that  he  first  became  a  man  of  note. 
The  city  of  Turin  took  up  Cavour's  cry,  and  the 
king  acceded.  The  Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany  granted 
a  constitution.  The  Pope  was  slow  to  bestir  him- 
self, but  the  news  of  revolutionary  success  in  Pans 
quickened  his  gait,  and  he  too  granted  a  constitu- 
tion. In  the  Austrian  provinces,  Lombardy  and 
Venetia,  there  were  tumults,  arrests,  cavalry  charges, 
and  martial  law  ;  then  came  news  of  the  revolt  in 
Vienna  itself  and  word  that  the  scared  Emperor 
promised  a  constitution.  Venice  accepted  the  pro- 
mise ;  but  Milan,  where  a  citizen  had  been  killed 
by  the  soldiers,  broke  into  rebellion.  Carts,  car- 
riages, tables,  chairs,  pianos,  bedsteads,  were  heaped 
up  to  defend  the  streets;  sixteen  hundred  and  fifty 
barricades  wen-  erected;  men  snatched  knives,  ham- 
mers, arquebuses,  axes  j  all  took  part,  boys,  lads, 
old  men,  priests.  These  were  the  famous  Five  Days 
of  .Milan.  Every  street,  every  house  was  a  battle- 
ground, and  Field  Marshal  Radetzky,  with  fourteen 

thousand    men.    was    driven    from    the    city.     Revolt 

spread  through  Lombardy.  When  the  news  reached 
Venice  the  citizens  rose,  forced  the  Austrian  govern- 
on  to  surrender,  and  proclaimed  anew  the  Republic 
of  Venice.    Daniels  Manin  was  made  president. 


388         A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

This  glorious  news,  Venice  republican,  Milan  vic- 
torious over  Radetzky,  flew  to  Turin.  Every  liberal 
went  mad  with  excitement.  The  centuries  of  na- 
tional humiliation  seemed  past.  Now  had  come  the 
hour  for  which  Piedmont  had  trained  and  disciplined 
itself,  for  which  it  had  hoped  and  longed  ;  now 
should  Piedmont  uplift  Italy  and  fight  its  country's 
battle.  Cavour  cried  that  there  was  but  one  possible 
course,  —  immediate  war  with  Austria.  A  great 
crowd  in  tremulous  anxiety  thronged  before  the  royal 
palace.  At  midnight  on  March  23,  Carlo  Alberto 
stepped  out  on  his  balcony  and  waved  a  tricolour 
scarf.  Next  day  a  royal  proclamation  stated  that  the 
Piedmontese  army  would  march  to  the  aid  of  Lom- 
bardy  and  Venice.  A  shout  of  joy  went  up  through- 
out Italy.  Modena  and  Parma  cast  out  their  dukes 
and  sent  recruits  to  help.  The  Grand  Duke  of  Tus- 
cany, the  Pope,  even  the  King  of  Naples,  compelled 
by  necessity,  each  sent  an  army.  The  war  was  a 
national  crusade. 

At  first  the  campaign  went  well.  The  Italian  allies 
numbered  more  than  ninety  thousand  men;  and  Carlo 
Alberto,  leading  the  main  body,  forced  the  Austrians 
under  Radetzky  within  the  quadrilateral  made  by 
the  strong  fortresses,  Verona,  Peschiera,  Mantua,  and 
Legnano.  But  the  King  of  Sardinia  was  no  gen- 
eral; he  lacked  energy,  decision,  character.  While 
he  dawdled,  not  knowing  what  to  do,  Radetzky  re- 
ceived reinforcements.  This  hesitation  and  delay 
cooled  the  first  glorious  burst  of  union  and  freedom. 
Pius  IX  felt  doubts  ;  what  right  had  the  Vicar  of 
Christ  to  take  part  in  war?  Were  not  Austrians  and 


TUMULTUOUS   YEARS  389 

Italians  alike  in  the  sight  of  God?  What  had  the 
Universal  Church  to  do  with  national  divisions? 
And  might  not  Austria  become  heretic  and  Becede 
from  the  papal  rule?  He  said  he  would  not  fight 
So  great,  however,  were  the  tumults  in  Rome  that 
he  was  forced  to  face  about  once  again,  but  his  ter- 
giversation gave  a  fatal  blow  to  the  cause.  In  Naples 
the  watchful  Ferdinand,  eager  for  a  pretext,  took 
advantage  of  some  street  riots  to  dissolve  parlia- 
ment, and  bade  his  army  come  home.  One  general 
with  a  few  hundred  men  disobeyed,  but  the  rest 
turned  back. 

In  the  north  the  old  jealousies  between  the  Ital- 
ian States  wedged  themselves  in  and  broke  the  new- 
made  union.  Venice,  instead  of  uniting  with  Pied- 
mont in  a  joint  political  confederation,  insisted  upon 
remaining  an  independent  republic,  and  Milan  hesi- 
tated out  of  jealousy  of  Turin.  Of  these  discords 
and  hesitations  the  octogenarian  Radetzky  took  ad- 
vantage. Within  thirty  days  the  Tuscan  army  had 
been  destroyed,  tin-  papal  army  made  prisoners, and 
Piedmont  was  left  alone  to  maintain  the  Italian  cause 
in  the  field.     In  a  three  days'  battle  at  CustOZa(Julv 

23—25  i  ilif  issue  was  decided.  The  beaten  Pied- 
montese  were    forced  to  Burrendei    Milan,  ami    to 

retreat  aCTOSfl  the  river  TicinO   into    their  own    land. 

and  Austria  returned  triumphant  into  full  possession 
<.f  hei  provinces,  except  the  city  of  Venice.  Tin- 
little  Dukefl  of  Parma  and  Afodena  returned  also. 

Elsewhere  tin-  current  of  events  ran  equally  fast. 
In  Sicily  Ferdinand  bombarded  the  revolted  <it\  of 
Messina    hence  his  nickname  Bomba), and  forced  it 


390         A   SHORT   HISTORY  OF   ITALY 

to  surrender ;  and  in  Naples  he  made  a  mock  of 
the  constitution.  Rome  was  in  horrid  confusion. 
Pius  IX  appointed  Pellegrino  Rossi  prime  minister, 
in  hope  that  his  energy  and  vigour  might  restore 
peace  and  quiet ;  but  Rossi  was  murdered  on  the 
steps  of  the  Cancelleria.  Rioters  wandered  at  will 
about  the  city.  Shots  were  fired  near  the  papal  pal- 
ace on  the  Quirinal.  The  Pope,  terribly  frightened, 
fled  from  the  city,  and  took  refuge  across  the  Nea- 
politan border  at  Gaeta.  He  was  besought  to  return, 
but  would  not.  The  revolutionary  leaders  convoked 
an  assembly  of  Roman  citizens  to  decide  what  form  of 
government  to  adopt,  and,  though  the  Pope  hurled 
excommunications  at  all  who  should  take  part,  the 
radicals  met  (February  5,  1849),  declared  the  Tem- 
poral Power  at  an  end,  and  established  the  Roman 
Republic.  In  Tuscany  the  republican  fire  likewise 
blazed  up;  the  Grand  Duke  ran  after  the  Pope  to 
Gaeta,  and  a  provisional  government  was  appointed 
with  a  triumvirate  at  its  head. 

In  the  north,  Piedmont  and  Austria  renewed  the 
war.  On  March  23,  at  Novara,  a  little  town  on  the 
Piedmontese  side  of  the  Ticino,  the  deciding  battle 
was  fought.  The  Austrians  were  completely  victori- 
ous. Kinof  Carlo  Alberto  asked  for  a  truce.  Radet- 
zky's  terms  were  so  severe  that  the  king,  feeling 
himself  the  chief  cause  of  this  severity,  resolved  to 
be  of  no  further  detriment  to  his  country.  He  abdi- 
cated in  favour  of  his  son,  Vittorio  Emanuele  II, 
and  went  into  exile,  where  he  soon  died.  The  young 
king  made  peace  on  harsh  terms. 

All  rational  hope  for  the  Italian  cause  was  at  an 


TUMULTUOUS   YEARS  391 

end,  but  the  dismembered  parts  straggled  on.  The 
men  of  Brescia  defended  themselves  gloriously  for 
days,  barricading  every  alley  and  making  a  fori 
of  every  house,  but  they  were  overpowered  ;    the 

Austrian  general  Havnau  inflicted  atrocities  that 
made  his  name  a  byword  throughout  Europe.  His 
own  report  says,  "  I  ordered  that  no  prisoner  should 
be  taken,  but  that  every  person  seized  with  arms  in 
his  hands  should  be  immediately  put  to  death,  and 
that  the  houses  from  which  shots  came  should  he 
burned."  '  In  Sicily  the  revolutionists  resisted  in 
vain,  and  the  king's  authority  was  reestablished 
throughout  the  island.  In  Naples  all  liberals  were 
shamefully  and  most  cruelly  persecuted.  In  Tuscan v 
the  mild-mannered  Tuscans,  dismayed  at  their  own 
radical  government,  invited  the  Grand  Duke  to  re- 
turn ;  so  he  came,  bringing  Austrian  soldiers  with 
him. 

In  Rome  still  more  notable  events  happened. 
Ma/./.ini,  as  member  of  the  revolutionary  triumvi- 
rate, was  at  the  head  of  the  government.  His  task 
was  hard,  for  the  Pope  had  asked  the  Catholic 
Power-  to  restore  him.  ami  Spain,  Naples.  Austria. 
aid    France,    hastened    to    obey.    France    interfered 

because  Louis  Napoleon,  president  of  the  new  re- 
public,   wished    the    support    of    the    French    clerical 

party;  nevertheless, he  had  to  proceed  cautiously  in 

order  not  to  \e\  the  liherals.  and  pursued  a  wavering 

course.  He  said  he  would  send  an  army  to  defend 
real  liberty,  and  would  let  the  Romans  decide  for 
themselves  whal  they  wanted.    The  French  soldiers 

1  Tht  Liberatu  n  M   C<    w     ••  p  144. 


392         A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF  ITALY 

advanced  to  the  walls  of  Rome  (April  29,  1849) ; 
the  Roman  republicans  were  naturally  suspicious 
and  treated  them  as  enemies.  Skirmishes  were 
fought,  and  the  French  constrained  to  retire.  Mean- 
while, an  Austrian  army  came  from  the  north,  the 
Neapolitans  from  the  south,  and  the  Spaniards 
landed  at  the  mouth  of  the  Tiber.  The  French  in- 
timated to  the  Austrians  that  this  was  their  affair ; 
the  Romans,  reinforced  by  Garibaldi  and  his  Legion, 
drove  back  the  Neapolitans  ;  and  the  Spaniards  re- 
tired quietly,  thus  leaving  France  to  deal  with  the 
situation  as  she  deemed  best.  French  reinforce- 
ments arrived,  and  fighting  was  begun  again. 

The  Italians  defended  themselves  for  three  weeks; 
their  soldiers,  though  brave,  were  raw,  many  of  them 
mere  volunteers,  and  ineffectual  against  regular 
troops.  As  Mazzini  was  the  hero  in  council,  so  Gari- 
baldi was  the  hero  on  the  field  of  battle.  The  last 
of  knight-errants,he  was  the  very  incarnation  of  Ro- 
mance and  Revolution.  Bred  to  the  sea,  this  Savoy- 
ard from  Nice  always  retained  the  jaunty,  gallant 
bearing  of  a  mariner.  His  countenance  (childlike 
and  lionlike),  —  with  its  broad,  tranquil  brow,  be- 
nign eye,  and  resolute  mouth,  —  in  youth  all  spar- 
kling, gradually  changed  with  care  and  disillusion, 
but  he  still  kept  the  seaman's  mien  and  the  sea- 
man's lightsome  eye.  He  was  the  beau  ideal  of  a 
romantic  hero.  After  his  unsuccessful  raid  into 
Piedmont  he  had  gone  to  South  America,  where  he 
lived  a  wild  life  of  guerilla  warfare,  fighting  like  a 
Paladin  on  behalf  of  republican  revolutionaries  who 
were  struggling  for  their  freedom.    All  the  time  he 


TUMULTUOUS   YEARS  393 

was  training  a  hand  of  Italian  adventurers,  his 
Legion,  so  that  they  should  he  ready  when  their 
country  had  need  of  them.  These  men  rushed  to 
the  defence  of  Kome.  Their  entry  into  the  city  was 
most  picturesque.  The  gaunt  soldiers,  wearing  red 
shirts  and  pointed  hats  topped  with  plumes,  their 
legs  bare,  their  beards  full-grown,  their  faces  tanned 
to  copper  colour,  with  their  long  black  hair  dan- 
gling unkempt,  looked  like  so  many  Fra  Diavolos. 
At  their  head  Garibaldi,  in  his  red  shirt,  with  loose 
kerchief  knotted  round  his  throat,  the  regular  beauty 
of  his  noble,  leonine  face  set  off  by  his  waving  hair, 
mounted  on  a  milk-white  horse,  rode  like  a  demi- 
god. 

Besides  this  Legion,  troops  of  volunteers  came 
from  all  over  Italy.  The  character  of  these  patriots 
may  be  learned  from  Mazzini's  account  of  the  young 
Genoese  poet  Goffredo  Mameli.  who  was  killed 
there.  ''For  me.  for  us  exiles  <>f  twenty  years  who 
bave  grown  old  in  illusions,  he  was  like  a  melody 
<>f  youth,  a  presentiment  of  times  that  we  shall  not 
Bee,  in  which  the  instinct  of  goodness  and  sacrifice 
will  dwell  unconscious  in  the  human  sold,  and  will 
not  be.  as  virtue  is  in  us.  the  fruit  of  long  and  hard 

struggles.   Of  a  disposition  lovingly  yielding,  he  was 

Only  happy  when  he  could  abandon  himself  t"  those 
he  loved,  afl  a  child  in  his  mother's  caress;  and  yet 
Mameli  was  uiishakably  linn  iu  what  touched  the 
faith  he  had  embraced.    He  was  handsome,  hut  care 

■  f  his  appearance,  and  sensitive  as  a  woman  to 

the  charm  of  flowers  and  sweet  scents.  Such  was 
he  when  I  knew  him  first  at  Milan  in    1848,  and  we 


304        A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF  ITALY 

loved  each  other  at  once.  It  was  impossible  to  see 
him  and  not  love  him.  Only  twenty-two,  he  joined 
the  extremes  rarely  found  united,  a  childlike  gentle- 
ness and  the  energy  of  a  lion,  to  be  revealed,  and 
which  was  revealed,  in  supreme  emergencies." 

The  defence  of  Rome  was  vain.  Mazzini  escaped 
by  means  of  an  English  passport,  and  Garibaldi  led 
a  handful  of  men  eastward  hoping  to  reach  Venice. 
The  French  soldiers  marched  into  the  city,  and  re- 
established the  Temporal  Power  of  the  Pope.  Venice 
alone  remained.  Daniele  Manin,  the  valiant  dictator, 
maintained  a  stout  defence  for  four  months,  but 
cholera  and  hunger  came  to  the  enemy's  aid.  On 
August  24  the  city  capitulated,  and  on  the  30th 
Marshal  Radetzky  heard  the  Te  Deum  of  Austrian 
gratitude  played  in  St.  Mark's.  In  all  Italy,  except 
Piedmont,  the  reaction  had  triumphed ;  Piedmont 
alone  was  left  to  become  the  centre  of  whatever 
hopes  of  independence  and  unity  still  existed. 


CHAPTER   XXXVIII 

THE  UNITY  OF  ITALY  (1S49-1S71) 

After  the  uprisings  of  1848-49,  the  old  tyran- 
nical system  prevailed  for  eight  years  and  Beemed 
heavier  than  ever.  Liberalism  meant  suspicion,  dis- 
favour, danger.  The  liberals  were  not  very  numer- 
ous and  did  not  a^ree  among  themselves.  Some 
looked  for  hope  to  Piedmont,  some  to  England, 
some  to  France.  Some  were  for  a  republic,  sonic 
for  a  confederation,  some  for  unity  ;  some  wished 
insurrection,  others  lawful  agitation. 

In  Naples  the  king  busied  himself  with  putting 
the  liberals  in  dungeons.  According  to  the  general 
belief  the  number  of  prisoners  for  political  offences 
in  the  Two  Sicilies  was  between  fifteen  and  thirty 
thousand.  Among  them  was  Baron  Carlo  Poerio, 
"a  refined  and  accomplished  gentleman,  a  respected 
and  blameless  character,"  at  one  time  one  of  the 
ministers  of  the  Crown.  It  happened  that  Mr. 
Gladstone,  travelling  for  the  benefit  of  a  daugh- 
ter's health,  passed  Beveral  months  in  Naples  at  this 
time  I  L850  51).  Be  attended  (rials  of  the  liberal 
prisoners,  listened  to  a  "  long  tissue  of  palpable  lies 
told  by  witnesses  Buborned  by  the  government," 
and  visited  the  horrible  and  filthy  prisons.  Alter 
bis  return  to  England  he  published  bis  "Letters  to 

the    Karl    of   Aberdeen."     lie    let    forth    before    the 


396         A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF  ITALY 

English  people  "  the  horrors  —  amidst  which  the 
government  of  that  country  (Naples)  is  now  carried 
mi."  He  said  that  "the  present  practices  of  the 
Government  of  Naples  in  reference  to  real  or  sup- 
posed political  offenders  are  an  outrage  upon  re- 
ligion, upon  civilization,  upon  humanity,  and  upon 
decency."  He  described  the  "  incessant,  systematic 
deliberate  violation  of  the  law  by  the  Power  ap- 
pointed to  watch  over  and  maintain  it."  "  It  is  the 
wholesale  persecution  of  virtue,  —  it  is  the  awful 
profanation  of  public  religion,  —  it  is  the  perfect 
prostitution  of  the  judicial  office,  —  this  is  'The 
negation  of  God  erected  into  a  system  of  govern- 
ment.' "  He  recounted  Poerio's  trial  at  length,  and 
told  how  Poerio  and  fifteen  others  were  confined 
in  a  room  about  thirteen  feet  long  and  eight  feet 
high,  in  which  they  slept,  always  chained  two  by 
two.  These  chains  were  never  taken  off,  day  or 
night.  He  ended  by  saying,  "  It  is  time  that  either 
the  veil  should  be  lifted  from  scenes  fitter  for  hell 
than  earth,  or  some  considerable  mitigation  should 
be  voluntarily  adopted.  I  have  undertaken  this 
wearisome  and  painful  task,  in  the  hope  of  doing 
something-  to  diminish  a  mass  of  human  suffering  as 
huge,  I  believe,  as  acute,  to  say  the  least,  as  any 
that  the  eye  of  Heaven  beholds." 

These  letters  were  sent  by  Lord  Palmerston  to 
every  government  in  Europe,  and  helped  to  awaken 
general  European  sympathy  for  the  oppressed  lib- 
erals of  Italy. 

In  the  Papal  States  Pius  IX  put  himself  wholly 
in  the  hands  of  the  reactionaries  and  the  Jesuits. 


THE   UNITY   OF    ITALY 

His  government  was  practically  imbecile.  Brigands 
came  and  went  at  will.  In  Forlimpopoli,  for  in- 
stance, a  city  of  the  Romagna,  a  famous  highwayman 
and  liis  band  appeared  on  the  stage  of  a  theatre, 

and  made  the  spectators  empty  their  pockets  of  their 
money  and  of  their  front-door  keys.  In  Modena. 
Parma,  and  Tuscany  the  governments  did  whatever 
they  deemed  would  he  pleasing  to  Austria:  and  in 
Lombardy  and  Venice  the  Anstrians  repressed  the 
slightest  signs  of  patriotism. 

In  Piedmont  alone  was  there  light  ahead.  The 
young  kinn"  was  the  embodiment  of  the  best  quali- 
ties of  his  race.  The  statues  of  him.  carved  in  the 
first  fury  of  patriotism,  which  disfigure  many  a 
piazza,  reveal  only  his  corpulence,  liis  monstrous 
mustachios,  and  the  forceful  ugliness  of  his  shrewd 
face.  Victor  Emmanuel  was  a  soldier  horn,  of  i ne- 
less  manners,  imperious  and  brusque,  vet  with  a 
charm  of  obvious  honesty  that  won  men's  hearts 
and  gained  for  him  the  title  of  il  r<  galantuomo. 
He  reminds  one  of  Henry  of  Navarre,  in  his  dash, 
his  impetuous  energy,  his  shrewdness,  his  deserved 
popularity)  and  his  eternally  youthful  readiness  to 
fall    in    love.     After    the    defeat     at    Novar.i      L849 

pressure  was  put  upon  him  to  return  to  tin-  auto- 
cratic system,  ami.  it   is  said,  Austria  offered  him 
er terms  if  he  would.    He  had  been  brought  up 

with  the  old  ideas  of  tlie  royal  position,  hut    he  was 

statesman  enough  t<>  perceive  that  if  Piedmont  ami 
tli,-  Bouse  of  Savoy  were  to  lead  in  the  movement 
of  Italian  independence,  they  must  win  the  confidence 

of   the   liherals  j    and    he    had    sworn   to  maintain  the 


398         A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF  ITALY 

constitution.  He  was  always  a  man  of  his  word, 
whatever  policy  might  advise,  and  answered  that  he 
should  be  loyal  to  the  constitution. 

Piedmont's  history  for  the  next  few  years  is  a  re- 
cord of  liberal  legislation,  as  it  was  then  understood. 
This  legislation  was  especially  directed  against  anti- 
quated ecclesiastical  privileges,  with  the  purpose  of 
realizing  Cavour's  principle,  "  A  free  Church  in  a 
free  State."  A  little  later  Cavour  was  called  to  the 
head  of  the  government,  and  for  ten  years,  with 
certain  brief  exceptions,  he  remained  the  chief  figure 
on  the  Italian  stage.  There  are  diverse  judgments 
on  the  very  diverse  merits  of  the  master-builders  of 
the  Italian  kingdom;  some  admire  most  Mazzini, 
the  indefatigable  conspirator,  the  dreamy  idealist,  the 
nobly  fanatical  republican  ;  others,  Garibaldi,  the 
man  after  Petrarch's  heart,  the  rival  of  Roland  or 
the  Cid;  others,  Victor  Emmanuel,  the  honourable, 
bold,  shrewd,  resolute  king ;  but  all  agree  that 
Cavour's  brilliant  diplomacy  entitles  him  to  rank  as 
one  of  the  world's  great  statesmen,  and  that  his 
work  was  indispensable  to  the  establishment  of  the 
Italian  kingdom. 

This  period  prior  to  the  war  with  Austria  is 
Cavour's.  He  set  the  finances  of  Piedmont  on  a 
better  basis ;  he  began  a  series  of  measures  for  the 
development  of  her  resources ;  he  secured  various 
internal  reforms,  but  his  brilliant  achievement  was 
in  his  foreign  policy.  He  knew  that  the  Austrians 
could  not  be  dispossessed  without  a  war,  that  Pied- 
mont was  not  strong  enough  of  herself,  and  that  in 
order  to  gain  allies  she  must  get  a  hearing  before 


THE   UNITY   OF   ITALY  399 

Europe.  The  Crimean  War  gave  Cavour  an  opportu- 
nity. England  and  France  would  have  preferred 
Austria  as  an  ally,  and  there  was  much  cautious 
proceeding;  but  Austria  hesitated,  and  Piedmont 
offered  herself.  Many  Italians  deemed  the  plan  of 
taking  part  in  a  war  with  which  Piedmont  had  no 
visible  concern  a  piece  of  folly  ;  butCavour  carried  his 
point.  The  Piednionte.se  army  went,  behaved  with 
credit,  and  effaced  the  unfavourable  impression 
Left  by  the  disastrous  campaigns  of  L848  1!'.  The 
fruits  of  the  Crimean  expedition  were  gathered  at 
the  Congress  of  Paris  (1856),  where  Cavour,  sup- 
ported by  England  and  France,  was  aide  to  call  t In- 
attention of  the  Congress  to  the  condition  of  Italy  . 
He  pointed  to  the  tyranny  of  Austria  in  Lom  hardy 
and  Yenetia.  to  the  abominable  condition  of  the  Papal 
States,  to  the  horrible  misgovernment  in  the  Two 
Sicilies;  and  he  pointed  to  Piedmont  as  the  bulwark 
against  Austrian  preponderance  on  the  one  hand,  and 
against  the  revolutionary  spirit  on  the  other.  No- 
thing definite  was  done,  but  the  [talian  question 
had  been  broached,  and  Cavour'a  participation  in 
the  Congress  was  recognized  as  a  great  achieve- 
ment. 

Piedmont's  Leadership  was  helped  by  rash  revolts 
elsewhere,  easily  put  down  and  cruelly  punished ;  and 
it  became  plainer  and  plainer  that  through  the  steady, 
orderly  monarch)  of  Sardinia  deliverance  was  to 
come,  if  at  all,  and  not  through  the  i  isionarj  Bchemea 
of  Ma/./.ini.  The  dark,  mysterious  plans  of  Napoleon 
111  now  loomed  mi  the  horizon.  Relations  between 
him  and  Cavour  became  closer.   Cavour.  no  doubt, 


400    A  SHORT  HISTORY  OF  ITALY 

would  liave  liked  to  gain  his  ends  without  French 
aid,  hut  that  could  not  he  done.  The  only  other  pos- 
sible ally,  England,  would  not  interfere.  In  the  sum- 
mer of  1858  an  understanding  was  reached  hetween 
him  and  Napoleon  that  in  case  of  Austrian  aggres- 
sion France  would  aid  Piedmont.  On  January  1, 
1859,  Napoleon  hinted  to  the  world  what  had  hap- 
pened ;  on  January  10,  Victor  Emmanuel  at  the 
opening  of  the  Piedmontese  parliament  said  that  the 
political  situation  was  not  free  from  perils  ahead, 
"  for  while  we  respect  treaties,  we  cannot  disregard 
the  cry  of  pain  which  comes  to  us  from  so  many 
parts  of  Italy."  Count  Cavour  asked  for  a  loan  of 
50,000,000  lire.  Affairs  moved  fast.  Relations  he- 
tween Piedmont  and  Austria  were  strained  taut ;  but 
it  was  essential  that  Austria  should  be  the  aggressor. 
Russia  and  England,  in  order  to  prevent  war,  sug- 
gested a  European  Congress  to  consider  matters. 
Napoleon  consented ;  and  Cavour,  who  knew  that 
freedom  for  Italy  could  only  be  obtained  by  war, 
feared  that  his  chance  had  gone.  There  was  talk  of 
disarmament,  but  no  agreement  had  been  reached, 
when  Austria,  impatient  and  arrogant,  sent  an  ulti- 
matum to  Piedmont  that  she  must  disarm  prior  to 
the  Congress.  Victor  Emmanuel  refused  and  war 
was  declared. 

The  French  Emperor  crossed  the  Alps,  and  in 
June  the  allies  won  the  battles  of  Magenta  and 
Solferino.  The  Italians  believed  that  Austria  would 
now  be  driven  from  every  foot  of  Italian  soil : 
when,  suddenly,  without  consulting  Piedmont,  Napo- 
leon, for  reasons  of  French  policy,  made  peace  with 


THE   UNITY   OF   ITALY  4c  I 

Austria.  The  Emperor  of  Austria  ceded  Lombardy 
to  Napoleon,  and  Napoleon  transferred  it  to  Pied- 
mont; and,  as  a  sop  to  the  spirit  of  Italian  unity, 
both  Emperors  agreed  to  favour  the  scheme  of  a  con- 
federation of  the  Italian  States  with  the  Pope  at  its 
head,  but  the  latter  plan  was  left  in  the  air.  This 
was  the  end  of  the  high  hopes  of  Italian  freedom 
and  unity.  Italy  had  received  a  slap  in  the  face. 
Cavonr  was  furious;  he  had  a  Btormj  interview  with 
his  king,  and  passionately  urged  him  not  to  consent, 
but  the  king  had  the  good  sense  to  see  thai  he  must. 
Cavonr  immediately  resigned. 

Meanwhile  the  war  had  caused  the  recall  of  the 
Austrian  troops  south  of  the  Po,  and  the  patriots 
had  risen  in  joy.  The  Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany,  the 
Duke  of  Modena,  the  Duchess  Regent  of  Parma,  the 
papal  legates  of  the  Romagna,  ran  away,  and  pro- 
visional governments  were  established ;  but  a  perma- 
nent political  disposition  was  attended  with  difficul- 
ties. The  states  themselves  wished  to  join  Piedmont, 
but  the  wish  was  not  unanimous,  for  many  people 
wanted  to  preserve  local  autonomy  and  their  old 
historic  boundaries.  Napoleon  favoured  his  vague 
confederacy,  and  a  European  Congress  supported 
his  new.  Indecision  reigned,  but  the  cause  of  na- 
tional union  triumphed  through  the  rigour  of  Count 
Bettino  Ricasoli,  a  man  of  iron  character,  head  of 
the  provisional  government  in  Tuscany.  "We  must," 
he  wrote,  "  no  longer  speak  of  Piedmont,  nor  of 
Florence,  nor  of  Tuscan)  ;  wemusi  Bpeah  neither  of 
fn>ion  aor  annexation,  but  of  the  union  of  the  Ital- 
ian people  under  the  constitutional  government  oi 


402         A   SHORT   HISTORY  OF  ITALY 

Victor  Emmanuel."  '  Certainly  the  fugitive  dukes 
could  only  return  by  force,  and  though  Continental 
Europe  approved  their  return,  there  was  nobody  to 
supply  the  force.  The  little  states  voted  to  join 
Piedmont.  Piedmont,  however,  hesitated,  in  fear  of 
European  contradiction.  Nobody  but  Cavour  could 
manage  the  matter,  and  he  was  recalled  to  office 
(1860).  Cavour  appealed  to  the  doctrine  of  the 
popular  will  to  be  expressed  by  a  plebiscite.  France, 
however,  would  only  consent  upon  cession  of  Savoy 
and  Nice,  a  measure  already  talked  of  as  the  price 
of  the  French  alliance  ;  and  in  spite  of  the  reluctance 
of  the  king  to  surrender  Savoy,  the  cradle  of  his 
race,  the  price  had  to  be  paid.  The  cession  was 
made,  and  Parma,  Modena,  Tuscany,  and  the  Ro- 
magna  were  united  with  the  Kingdom  of  Sardinia 
under  the  name  of  the  Kingdom  of  Italy  (April  15, 
I860). 

In  the  mean  time  Ferdinand  II,  King  of  the  Two 
Sicilies,  had  died,  hated  and  despised  by  everybody, 
and  his  son  Francis  II,  a  weak,  ignorant,  bigoted 
lad,  had  mounted  the  throne.  He  refused  a  sugges- 
tion of  Victor  Emmanuel  to  join  in  the  war  against 
Austria,  threw  himself  into  the  arms  of  the  reaction- 
ary party,  and  made  an  alliance  with  the  Pope.  The 
discontented  liberals  took  courage  at  the  news  from 
the  north.  In  April,  1860,  the  revolt  began  in  Pa- 
lermo, and,  though  suppressed  there,  spread.  Two 
young  patriots,  Francesco  Crispi  and  Rosalino  Pilo, 
went  about  stirring  the  people  to  action.  Garibaldi 
was  begged  to  put  himself  at  the  head  of  the  pro- 

1  The  Union  of  Italy,  W.  J.  Stillroan,  p.  300. 


THE   UNITY   OF   ITALY 

posed  revolution.  On  the  night  of  May  6,  two 
ships,  the  Lombard v  and  the  Piedmont.  secretly 
left  Genoa,  and  took  Garibaldi  and  a  thousand  vol- 
unteers aboard.  This  band,  known  as  i  Milk,  is 
nearlv  as  famous  and  as  legendary  as  King  Ar- 
thur  and  his  Round  Table.  On  May  11.  the  ships 
landed  at  Marsala.  Two  Neapolitan  cruisers  came 
up,  but  two  English  men-of-war  happened  to  be 
there  also;  and  the  English  captains,  under  guise  of 
friendly  notification  to  the  Neapolitans,  took  Borne 
action  which  delayed  the  latter  long  enough  to  let 
the  last  Garibaldians  disembark.  Once  on  shore. 
Garibaldi's  volunteers  ran  to  secure  the  telegraph 
office.  They  arrived  just  after  the  operator  had  tel- 
egraphed that  two  Piedmontese  ships,  filled  with 
troops,  had  come  into  the  harbour;  a  Garibaldian 
was  able  to  add  to  the  message,  "  I  have  made  a 
mistake;  they  are  two  merchantmen."  The  answer 
came  back,  "  Idiot."  The  volunteers  marched  in- 
land. A  provisional  government  was  organized  ; 
Garibaldi  was  made  dictator,  and  Crispi  secretary 
of  state.    The   cry  was  ••  Italy    and    Victor   Kniman- 

uel ! "  Garibaldi  was  joined  by  insurgent  Sicilians, 
and,  with  numbers  considerably  increased,  fought 
and  defeated  the  Bourbon  army.  The  storj  reads 
like  the  exploits  of  I  lector  before  the  Greet  trenches. 

Victory  followed  victory.     Palermo  fell,  M1L1//.0  and 

M.     ina;  then   he  crossed  the  straits  and  invaded 
Calabria    (August).    This  marvellous   triumph,   Pot 
there  had   been   thirty  thousand   regular  troop 
oppose   Garibaldi,   frightened    King    Francis;    he 
proclaimed  a  constitution,  appealed  to   Napoleon, 


404         A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF  ITALY 

and  even  to  Victor  Emmanuel,  for  help.  It  was  too 
late.  Garibaldi  swept  on  victorious,  and  the  king 
tied  from  Naples  (September  G)  ;  the  next  day  Gari- 
baldi marched  in  and  assumed  dictatorship  of  the 
kingdom. 

England  approved,  but  Continental  Europe  looked 
askance  at  this  irregular  proceeding,  and  Victor 
Emmanuel  and  Cavour  began  to  feel  uneasy,  apprehen- 
sive lest  the  Great  Powers  should  intervene  in  Ital- 
ian affairs.  It  was  a  difficult  situation.  Garibaldi  was 
moving  on  northward,  and  proclaimed  his  intention 
of  going  to  Rome,  regardless  of  the  French  army 
stationed  there,  and  then  to  Venice,  regardless  of 
the  European  treaties  that  gave  Venice  to  Austria. 
Besides,  the  Pope  had  collected  an  army  (largely  of 
foreign  recruits)  to  suppress  the  liberal  movements 
in  Umbria  and  the  Marches,  and  to  give  aid  to  the 
Neapolitan  king.  Here  were  further  opportunities 
for  foreign  intervention.  Evidently  Cavour  must 
act  promptly  if  he  wished  Piedmont  to  continue  to 
control  the  national  movement.  He  requested  the 
Pope  to  dismiss  his  new  army.  The  Pope  refused. 
The  Piedmontese  army  crossed  the  pontifical  border, 
scattered  the  papal  army,  and  took  possession  of  all 
the  papal  territory,  except  the  city  of  Rome  and  the 
country  immediately  about  it,  and  then  marched  on 
across  the  Neapolitan  boundary.  Here  the  Bourbon 
army  was  holding  Garibaldi  at  bay.  The  arrival 
of  the  Piedmontese  determined  the  issue.  A  less 
noble  man  might  have  shown  resentment  at  having 
another  come  at  the  eleventh  hour  and  seize  the 
fruits  of  victory,  but  Garibaldi  hailed  Victor  Em- 


THE   UNITY   OF    ITALY  405 

manuel  as   King  of   Italy,    refused    the   profl 

honours  and  rewards,  ami  went  home, apooi  man,  to 
the  little  island  of  Caprera.  The  Two  Sicilies  and 
the  liberated  parts  of  the  Papal  States  voted  to  join 
the  Kingdom  of  Italy.    In  February,  1861, the  first 

Italian  parliament  was  held,  ami  Victor  Emmanuel 
formally  received  the  title  King  of  Italy.  Excepting 
Rome  and  Venice,  Italy  was  tree  and  independent 

Rome  was  the  more  pressing  question  of  the  two. 
A  history  of  twenty-five  hundred  years,  a  profound 
sentiment,  a  patriotic,  poetic,  romantic  love,  had  in- 
evitably determined  that  Rome  must  lie  the  capital 
of  United  Italy.  On  the  other  hand,  opposed  to  tin- 
Italian  national  sentiment  was  the  historic  Catholic 
sentiment,  diffused  throughout  Europe  and  strongest 
in  France.  The  Pope  naturally  deemed  his  Italian 
birth  inferior  in  obligation  to  his  Catholic  position. 
Moreover,  the  Temporal  Power  of  the  Pojhs  bad 
endured  for  more  than  a  thousand  years,  and  since 
the  time  of  Julius  II  the  pontifical  title  had  been 
as  good  as  the  title  to  public  or  private  propei  t\ 
anywhere.  Cat  holies  honestly  believed  that  this  po- 
litical kingdom  was  necessary  to  the  independence 

of  the  Church.  How  COuld  the  World.  the\  said,  be- 
lieve in  papal  impartiality  if  the  Papacy  were   under 

the  thumb  of  the  Italian  government '.'  Tin-  difference 

in  point  of  view  inevitably  brought  the  ardent  Pa- 
pist and  the  patriotic  Nationalist   to  mutual  injua 

tiee.  The  Italians  looked  mi  I'm  IX  M  their  worst 
enemy;  the  Koiiian  Curia  deemed  the  Italians  rob- 
ber-.   French  sympathy  with  the  Papists,  ami  esp< 

cially  the  pr<  I    a  French  army  in  Rome,  made 


400         A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

the  question  exceedingly  difficult.  A  special  circum- 
stance aggravated  the  difficulty.  The  King-  of  Na- 
ples, having  taken  refuge  in  Rome,  armed  and 
subsidized  gangs  of  brigands,  who  raided  the  Nea- 
politan provinces  and  committed  unspeakable  out- 
rages. These  rascals,  when  pursued  by  the  Pied- 
montese  army,  crossed  the  pontifical  border  and  were 
safe.    This  condition  was  intolerable. 

At  this  juncture  the  great  statesman  who  had 
steadfastly  pursued  his  policy, — a  free  Church  in 
a  free  State,  —  and  never  lost  hope  of  a  peaceful 
solution  of  the  Roman  difficulty,  died  (June  6, 
1861).  The  priest  who  shrived  him  was  summoned 
to  Rome,  deprived  of  his  parish,  suspended  from  his 
office,  and  sent  to  finish  his  days  in  a  remote  mon- 
astery ;  so  strongly  did  the  Roman  Court  feel  that 
Cavour  and  his  abettors  were  wicked  men. 

Cavour's  successors,  Ricasoli  and  Rattazzi,  with 
feebler  gait,  followed  his  policy  as  best  they  could  ; 
but  uncertainty  and  hesitation  prevailed.  The  two 
great  questions,  Rome  and  Venice,  pressed  for  so- 
lution. The  radicals  clamored  to  have  the  Italian 
army  march  on  Rome.  Garibaldi's  impatience  would 
not  brook  further  inaction.  He  left  his  island  home 
at  Caprera,  and  betook  himself  to  Sicily,  crying, 
"  Rome  or  Death !  "  With  a  little  army  of  hot- 
tempered  radicals  he  crossed  into  Calabria.  The 
Italian  government  had  no  choice.  Regular  troops 
met  Garibaldi  at  Aspromonte,  near  Reggio,  and 
bade  him  withdraw ;  he  refused ;  shots  were  fired. 
Which  side  fired  first  is  uncertain.  Garibaldi  was 
wounded  and    made    prisoner  (August   29,  1862). 


THE    UNITY   OF    ITALY  407 

This  indignity  to  the  national  hero  roused  much 
hard  feeling,  bat  reasonable  men  perceived  that  the 
solution  of  the  Roman  question  had  to  be  Found 
in  some  other  way  than  by  a  filibustering  expedi- 
tion against  a  city  held  by  the  troops  of  a  power 
with  whom  the  nation  was  at  peace. 

The  liberation  of  Venice  came  first.  Prussia  oc- 
cupied a  position  in  Germany  somewhat  similar  to 
that  of  Piedmont  in  Italy.  Both  had  somewhat  simi- 
lar problems.  Both  felt  antagonism  to  Austria,  and 
also  a  suspicion  of  France.  In  April,  1866,  the  two 
states  made  an  alliance  against  Austria,  who,  fearing 
the  combination,  tried  to  break  it  by  offering  to  n-i\<- 
Venetia  to  Italy  if  she  would  abandon  the  Prussian 
alliance.  \  ictor  Emmanuel  refused,  and  war  began 
in  June.  The  Italians  were  beaten  both  on  land 
and  sea,  to  their  great  mortification  and  chagrin. 
The  crushing  Prussian  victory  at  Sadowa,  how- 
ever. Forced  Austria  to  accept  the  victor's  terms, 
including  the  cession  of  Venice.  <>n  November  7 
Victor  Emmanuel  entered  the  city.  Rome  alone  was 
left. 

Garibaldi  made  another  desperate  attempt,  but 
was  defeated  l>\  the  French  at  Montana  lv,'7  . 
Not  by  Italian  victories,  but  in  consequence  of  Prus- 
sian victories,  the  conquest  of  Rome  was  finalh 
effected.  The  French  were  obliged  to  withdraw 
their  garrison  during  the  Franco-Prussian  War, and 
then  th<'  Italian  government,  winch,  to  the  Bhame 

of  ardent   patriot-,   had   bo   long   torbor it   of 

obedience  to  the  will  of  the  French,  gave  notice  to 

the  world  thai    it    would    annex    Home.     Aft< 


408         A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF  ITALY 

less  call  upon  the  Pope  for  peaceful  surrender,  Victor 
Emmanuel  directed  his  army  to  march  on  the  city. 
Real  resistance  was  out  of  the  question,  but  Pius  IX 
had  decided  to  yield  only  to  force.  On  the  20th  of 
September,  1870,  a  breach  was  made  in  the  wall  near 
Porta  JPia,  a  few  shots  were  fired,  a  few  score  sol- 
diers killed  and  wounded,  and  the  Italian  army 
marched  in  and  took  possession  of  the  city.  A 
plebiscite  was  held,  and  by  a  vote  of  133,081  to 
1507  the  city  voted  to  become  a  part  of  Italy.  In 
June,  1871,  the  seat  of  government  was  formally 
removed  from  Florence,  and  Rome  once  again,  after 
fifteen  hundred  years,  became  the  capital  of  the 
Kingdom  of  Italy. 


CHAPTER    XXXIX 

CONCLUSION  (1872-1000) 

The  union  of  Italy  was  so  triumphant,  the  efforts 
which  accomplished  it  bo  heroic,  and  the  whole  tone 

of  Italian   history  throughout  the   E&isorgimento  BO 

romantic  and  noble,  that  the  period  since  of  neces- 
sity looks  flat  and  dull.  The  Italians  themselves  had 
imagined  that  the  union  of  Italy  would  be  followed 
by  some  career,  political,  moral,  or  intellectual,  that 
would  be  comparable  to  the  career  of  ancient  Koine. 
A  reaction  was  inevitable.  No  nation  could  continue 
at  so  enthusiastic  a  pitch.  Moreover,  the  difficulties 
before  it  were  great. 

Chief  of  these  difficulties  was  the  persistent  bos- 
tilitv  of  the  Papacy.    Tins  IX.  a  kind,  lovable,  timid 

man.  wholly  inadequate  to  cope  with  a  revolutionary 

situation,  had   paS8ed    from    his  early  sympathy  With 

the  liberal  movement  to  the  opposite  extreme,  and 
hated  it  with  the  hatred  of  fear.  His  hatred  of  lib- 
eral ideas  may  be  sen  in  his  condud  with  regard 
to  ecclesiastical  matters.  He  insisted  upon  tin-  ex- 
tremes! conservative  dogma,  as  if  it  weir  a  shield  to 

protect  the  Papacy,  the  papal  city,  the  Papal  States. 
and  the   whole   Catholic  world,  from    all  BSBaull 

!  and  his  liberal  crew.  Fust  he  proclaimed  the 
dogma  of  tin-  [mmaculate  Conception  of  the  \  irgin 
Mary,  nexl  In- published  the  "  Syllabus,"  which  is  a 


410         A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

condemnation  of  all  those  doctrines  commonly  em- 
bodied  in  Bills  of  Rights.  Finally,  he  convoked  the 
Vatican  Council  (1809-70),  and  procured  a  decree 
that  the  Pope  is  infallible  in  matters  of  faith  and 
morals.  This  decree  gave  the  death-blow  to  what- 
ever remains  of  republicanism  there  were  in  the 
Church,  and  established  the  Pope  as  absolute  mon- 
arch. An  Ecumenical  Council,  representing  the 
Church,  had  previously  been  the  infallible  head  of 
the  Church ;  now  the  Pope  was  substituted  for  the 
Council. 

In  this  way  the  Church  more  and  more  assumed 
an  attitude  of  irreconcilable  hostility  to  the  ideas 
that  prevailed  among  the  educated  classes  in  Italy. 
After  the  occupation  of  Rome  by  the  Italian  gov- 
ernment, Pius  shut  himself  up  in  the  Vatican  palace 
and  proclaimed  himself  a  prisoner.  He  first  advised 
and  then  commanded  Catholics  to  stay  away  from 
the  polls  at  national  elections,  and  directed  his  for- 
eign policy  to  the  end  of  reestablishing  his  Temporal 
Power.  This  policy,  judged  by  the  popular  belief 
in  the  divine  right  of  nationality  and  of  majorities, 
is  of  course  wrong;  judged  by  one  who  regards  the 
interests  of  the  Church  as  paramount,  it  may  be  de- 
fended as  an  attempt  to  adhere  to  the  old  ways 
under  which  the  Catholic  Church  had  played  its 
extraordinary  part  in  European  history.  After  the 
occupation  of  Rome  the  Italian  government  passed 
the  Law  of  Guarantees  (May  10,  1871),  which  guar- 
anteed to  the  Pope  an  annual  subsidy  of  somewhat 
more  than  3,000,000  lire  a  year,  and  also  the  per- 
sonal and  diplomatic  rights  of  a  sovereign,  such  as 


CONCLUSION  411 

to  maintain  his  court,  to  receive  ambassadors,  to  have 
separate  postal  and  telegraph  service,  to  keep  the 
Vatican  and  Lateran  palaces,  etc.  Pius  IX  refused 
to  accept  the  subsidy. 

Another  difficulty,  which  has  confronted  the 
government  since  the  union,  has  been  the  discord 
between  the  North  and  South.  The  northern  pro- 
vinces, especially  Lombardy  and  Piedmont,  have 
been  making  progress  in  manufactures  and  in  com- 
merce; whereas,  on  the  contrary,  the  South,  very 
ignorant  and  very  poor,  and  devoted  to  agriculture, 
wine,  grain,  lemons,  oranges,  etc.,  without  facilities 
for  manufacture  and  without  capacity  for  commerce, 
has  made  doubtful  advance.  Special  causes  have 
hindered  it.  In  Sicily,  in  consequence  of  long-con- 
tinued poverty,  ignorance,  and  misgovernment,  the 
secret  societies,  known  as  the  Mafia,  have  overrun 
great  parts  of  the  island.  The  original  cause  of 
the  Mafia  was  probably  self-protection,  the  lower 
classes  banding  together  to  save  themselves  from 
the  oppressions  of  the  upper  classes  who  clung  to 
the  remains  of  the  feudal  Bystem.  The  landowners, 
for  example,  had  used  their  control  of  the  courts  to 
maintain  privileges  and  injustice.  As  a  natural  con- 
sequence, members  of  the  Mafia  deemed  it  igno- 
ble  to   revenge  wrongs  by  judicial    process,  and  still 

more  ignoble  to  give  any  information  to  any  officers 
of  the  government.    They  settled  their  own  disputes 

and  righted    their  own  wrongs.     With    the  grant    of 

suffrage  the  Mafa  became  a  political  power,  and 
only  permitted  the  election  of  Buch  candidates  as  w 
approved. 


412         A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF  ITALY 

In  Naples  there  was  also  a  power  behind  the 
scenes  which  resembled  the  Mafia,  but  in  reality 
was  totally  distinct  and  individual.  This  Neapolitan 
power,  a  legacy  from  Bourbon  times,  was  the  Ca- 
ntor ra,  a  society  of  criminals  or  ruffians  on  the  edge 
of  crime,  organized  for  the  purpose  of  levying  tribute 
by  blackmail ;  it  was  not  unlike  the  worst  munici- 
pal rings  in  this  country,  and  gained  its  livelihood 
from  the  vicious,  and  from  politicians  who  benefited 
by  its  support.  Both  Camorra  and  Mafia  have 
been  very  great  obstacles  to  social  progress,  and 
still  exist. 

The  North,  conscious  of  a  higher  standard  of 
civilization,  has  wished  to  educate  and  reform  the 
South,  and  also,  perhaps,  has  not  been  unwilling  to 
let  taxation  fall  more  heavily  in  proportion  upon 
the  agricultural  produce  of  the  South  than  on  the 
manufactured  products  of  the  North.  Resenting 
this  assumption  of  superiority,  and  suspicious  of 
unfair  treatment,  especially  with  regard  to  indirect 
taxation,  the  South  has  felt  itself  aggrieved  ;  and  so 
there  have  been  continual  misunderstanding  and 
friction  between  it  and  the  North. 

In  its  foreign  relations  the  country  has  also  had 
hard  problems.  France  and  Italy  ceased  to  be  friends. 
Italy  could  not  forget  that  the  French  had  upheld 
the  papal  power  in  Rome,  and  had  defeated  Gari- 
baldi at  Men  tana ;  and  France  was  indignant  that 
Italy  had  not  come  to  her  rescue  in  1870.  France 
also  was  jealous  of  a  rival  in  the  Mediterranean  ; 
while  the  Italians  believed  that  France  favoured  a  re- 
vival of  the  Temporal  Power.    This  unfriendliness, 


CONCLUSION  413 

fostered  by  the  Italian  clericals,  constituted  a  most 
disturbing  factor  in  Italy's  foreign  relations.  The 
breach  was  increased  by  other  causes,  and  Italy 
in  alarm  turned  to  find  friends  elsewhere.  Austria 
and  Germany,  who  had  already  made  an  alliance, 
were  glad  to  have  Italy  join,  as  further  security  for 
the  peace  of  Europe  against  any  action  by  France 
or  RiiNsia.  So  the  three  joined  and  made  the  Triple 
Alliance  (1882 1,  which  was  renewed  from  time  to 
time  and  still  exists.  This  alliance  has  given  Italy 
ample  security  against  any  attack  by  France,  but 
has  imposed  upon  her  very  heavy  military  burdens 
in  order  to  keep  her  army  at  a  certain  standard  of 
efficiency. 

As  time  went  on  the  actors  of  the  great  age 
dropped  off  one  by  one;  Mazzini  in  1872,  Victor 
Emmanuel  in  1878,  Garibaldi  in  1882.  It  is  after 
their  departure,  their  noble  desires  fulfilled,  their 
noble  tasks  accomplished,  that  Italy  looks  little  and 
inadequate.  The  parliamentary  struggles  have  cer- 
tainly been  neither  noble  nor  romantic.  After  the 
occupation  of  Home,  the  Right,  the  conservative 
party,  under  Marco  Minghetti,  Quintino  Sella,  and 
others,  was  in  power  for  half  a  dozen  years,  and 
by  means  of  a  burdensome  taxation  succeeded  in 

making  receipts  equal  expenses.  lint  taxes  and  re- 
fusal   to   extend    the    Mill'rage    led    to    its   fall    from 

power,  and  the  Left,  the  progressive  party,  under 
Agostino  Depretis,  assumed  the  government.    De- 

pretlS  abolished  an  unpopular  tax  on  grinding  corn, 
made  primary  education  compulsory,  and  extended 
the    Buffrage    from    600,000    voters    to    2,000,000. 


414        A    SHORT   HISTORY   OF   ITALY 

After  these  reforms  the  dominant  party  ceased  to 
have  a  definite  programme.  There  was  general  con- 
fusion, known  as  Transformism.  The  deputies  split 
up  into  little  groups  under  petty  leaders  and  fell  to 
log-rolling.    The  story  is  dreary  and  unimportant. 

Depretis,  who  died  in  1887,  was  succeeded  by 
Francesco  Crispi,  the  most  striking  political  figure 
since  Cavour.  Crispi  began  life  as  an  advocate  at 
Palermo,  and  took  part  as  a  very  young  man  in  the 
early  agitations  for  constitutional  reforms.  He  was 
successful  at  the  bar,  and  had  moved  to  Naples  to 
practise  before  the  appellate  tribunals  there,  when 
the  events  that  led  to  the  uprisings  of  '48  began  to 
effervesce.  Crispi  took  a  leading  part.  After  the 
uprisings  had  been  suppressed,  he  lived  in  exile  till 
the  time  was  ripe  to  begin  again.  Then  he  returned 
to  Sicily  and  plotted  for  the  revolution  which  termi- 
nated in  Garibaldi's  expedition.  He  acquired  great 
influence,  took  his  seat  in  the  Italian  parliament, 
and  soon  became  leader  of  the  radical  Left.  In  spite 
of  vicissitudes  and  a  not  unattacked  reputation,  he 
was  the  chief  parliamentary  figure  on  the  death  of 
Depretis,  and  dominated  Italian  politics  till  1896. 
In  his  youth  Crispi  had  been  a  follower  of  Mazzini's 
republican  theories;  later,  though  still  a  republi- 
can in  sympathy,  he  announced  the  opinion  that 
"  the  Republic  would  divide  us,  the  Monarchy  unites 
us,"  and  abandoned  his  old  republican  associates. 
For  this  reason  among  others  he  incurred  the  ani- 
mosity of  old  friends  and  allies. 

During  the  period  of  his  ascendency  the  subdivi- 
sion of  the  deputies  into  little  groups  made  govern- 


CONCLUSION  415 

ment  difficult,  and  for  a  couple  of  years  lie  was  out  of 
office.  In  that  interval  hard  times,  adding  weight  to 
republican  and  socialist  propaganda,  caused  strikes-, 
riots,  and  insurrections  ;  and  accompanying  these 
disturbances  came  the  "Bank  Scandals."  Sundry 
banks,  conspicuously  the  important  Banca  Koniana, 
had  been  violating  the  laws  which  regulated  the 
government  of  banks,  and  had  been  engaged  in 
most  improper  dealings  with  politicians,  as,  for 
instance,  lending  money  to  deputies  on  little  or  no 
security.  These  scandals,  together  with  the  strikes, 
wrecked  the  ministry,  and  the  country  called  on 
Crispi,  as  the  one  strong  man  able  to  take  control. 
He  assumed  office  in  December,  1893,  and  remained 
till  1896,  when  he  fell  with  equal  suddenness.  The 
cause  of  his  fall  requires  a  separate  paragraph. 

About  1870  an  Italian  steamship  company  es- 
tablished  a  coaling  station  on  the  west  coast  of 
the  Red  Sea,  and  acquired  a  certain  strip  of  land 
which  it  afterwards  ceded  to  the  government  (1882). 
From  this  beginning  the  Italian  government  ad- 
vancedj  upon  one  pretext  or  another,  to  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  colonial  dependency.  It  occupied 
M  established  the  "  Colonia   Erithrea,"  and 

proclaimed  a  zone  <>i  influence  along  the  east  coast 
of  Africa.  Various  battles  were  fought  with  the 
natives;  and  at  last  the  government  sent  fifteen 
thousand  men  to  perform  some  brilliant  exploit  for 
its  own  political  benefit.  The  Italian  troops  were 
badly  handled;  they  walked  into  a  trap  set  by  the 
A.by8sinianS]  and  Buffered  a  terrible  rout,  losing  half 
their  numbers    L896  .    Crispi  l«'ll  at  once,  and  the 


416         A   SHORT   HISTORY   OF  ITALY 

new  ministry  under  Di  Rudini,  in  spite  of  cries  for 
revenge,  prudently  abandoned  the  colonial  policy, 
and  made  peace  as  best  it  could.  Italy  renounced 
her  protectorate,  and  contented  herself  with  a  strip 
of  coast  by  Massawa.  Thus  ended  the  scheme  of 
colonial    aggrandizement    begun  in    ignorance  and 

Bo  O  O 

folly. 

The  fall  of  Crispi  removed  the  last  interesting 
figure  of  the  Risorgimento,  and  left  Italian  poli- 
tics in  a  confused  medley.  Since  then,  various 
leaders  of  no  marked  ability  or  individuality  have 
struggled  with  the  permanent  difficulties  of  Church 
and  State,  North  and  South,  capitalism  and  social- 
ism, and  the  shifting  difficulties  of  foreign  relations. 
All  this  time  is  too  near  to  present  any  definite 
pattern  to  the  casual  eye.  The  century  closed  sadly 
with  the  assassination  of  King  Humbert  (1878- 
1900)  by  an  ignorant  workman  who  called  himself 
a  nihilist.  Humbert  was  not  a  good  ruler,  but  he 
had  a  kind  heart  and  many  pleasant  qualities,  which 
endeared  him  to  the  Italian  people.  He  was  suc- 
ceeded by  his  son  Victor  Emmanuel  III,  the  present 
king. 

The  greatest  Italian  figure  of  the  last  decades  of 
the  nineteenth  century  was  not  to  be  found  in  the 
service  of  the  State,  but  of  the  Church.  In  1810 
Gioacchino  Pecci  was  born  in  Carpineto,  a  dead 
little  village  perched  on  a  hillside  near  Anagni,  the 
town  where  Boniface  VIII  was  nearly  murdered  by 
Sciarra  Colonna  five  hundred  years  before.  His 
father,  Count  Lodovico  Pecci,  had  served  in  Napo- 
leon's army ;  his  mother  was  said  to  be  descended 


CONCLUSION  417 

from  Cola  di  Rienzo.  The  count  was  the  seigneur 
of  the  place,  and  lived  in  a  somewhat  shabby  pal- 
ace which  had  seen  better  days.  Gioacchino  was 
educated  at  a  Jesuit  school  in  Rome.  He  soon  gave 
evidence  of  marked  ability,  and  was  taken  into  the 
papal  Bervice  and  sent  as  apostolic  delegate  to  Bene- 
vento.  Banditti  infested  the  neighbourhood,  and  the 
nobility  of  the  town  were  little  better  than  the  ban- 
ditti. Pecci  displayed  character.  He  was  promoted, 
and  at  the  age  of  thirty-three  was  sent  as  papal 
nuncio  to  Belgium,  with  the  title  of  Archbishop 
of  Damietta,  an  archbishopric  that  had  been  in 
partibus  infidt  Hum  since  the  days  of  St.  Louis.  In 
Belgium,  where  liberal  ideas  were  jostling  the  old 
ecclesiastical  system,  Pecci  distinguished  himself 
for  tact  and  address.  From  Belgium  he  went  to 
Perugia  as  bishop,  and  governed  the  city  for  thirty- 
two  years,  during  the  trying  time  in  which  (largely 
at  the  expense  of  the  Church)  Italy  was  forcing 
her  way  to  freedom.  In  1860  his  authority  was 
overthrown  by  the  Piedmontese  soldiers,  and  many 
tales  of  brutality  and  wantonness  charged  upon 
the  nationalists  were  brought  to  his  troubled  ens, 
an<l  In-  unfortunately  received  a  most  unfavour- 
able impression  <»1  liberals  and  liberalism.  His  repu- 
tation tor  ability,  character,  and  diplomacy  became 
bo  well  established,  that  in  the  conclave  on  the 
death  of   Pius    IX  he  had   qo  scriou^  competitor. 

XIII     1878    L903    was  already  an  old  man  w  hen 

he  was  elected  Pope,  and  hail  had  the  misfortune  to 
receive  In-  education  and  training  in  the  narrow 
school    of    the    old    papal    regime.    Preceded    bv    an 


418         A   SHORT   HISTORY  OF  ITALY 

incompetent  Pope,  he  found  himself  confronted  by 
the  wreck  of  the  Temporal  Power,  and  by  a  liberal- 
ism which  was  not  only  triumphant  in  Italy,  but  in 
nearly  all  western  Europe.  He  had  not  far  to  go  to 
find  thoughtful  men  who  expected  to  see  the  Papacy 
eollapse  and  die.  Most  difficult  matters  in  Germany, 
in  Ireland,  in  France,  in  the  United  States,  required 
delicate  and  skilful  management.  It  is  not  too 
much  to  say  that  Leo  raised  the  Papacy  higher  in 
the  world's  regard  than  it  had  stood  for  two  hundred 
years.  Had  he  been  a  younger  man,  and  trained  in 
a  more  liberal  school,  he  might,  perhaps,  have  at- 
tempted the  task  of  adjusting  ecclesiastical  conserv- 
atism and  tradition  to  the  needs  of  a  fast  changing 
world.  But  he  was  too  old.  With  a  few  brilliant 
exceptions  he  accepted  the  conservative  policy.  He 
affected  to  deem  himself  a  prisoner  in  the  Vatican, 
and  claimed  the  restoration  of  the  Temporal  Powrer ; 
he  declared  Thomas  Aquinas  the  best  teacher  for 
the  priesthood,  and  stood  firm  on  the  dogmas  of 
the  Council  of  Trent.  Nevertheless,  his  was  a  most 
impressive  personality,  and  he  stands  in  the  long  list 
of  Popes  in  a  rank  inferior  only  to  the  highest. 

In  his  old  age,  as  he  strolled  in  the  Vatican  gar- 
dens, meditating  Latin  verses,  or  thinking  over  his 
encyclical  letters,  "  On  the  Condition  of  the  Work- 
ing Classes,"  "  On  Christian  Democracy,"  "  On  the 
Holy  Eucharist,"  or  turning  his  emaciated,  sweet, 
Voltairean  face  to  the  great  dome  of  St.  Peter's,  he 
may  well  have  let  his  mind  wander  in  peace  over 
the  outside  world,  for  never  since  Luther  cast  off 
his  papal  allegiance  had  the  whole  Christian  world 


CONCLUSION  419 

been  so  united  in  admiration  for  a  Pope  of  Rome. 
All  Christians  could  say  a  men  to  the  prayer  in  his 
last  poem,  "  Suprema  Leonis  Vota  :  "  — 

Expleat  o  clemena  anxia  vota  Deus, 

Scilicet  ut  tandem  raperia  de  civiboa  unus 
Divino  aeternom  LamiDe  et  ore  Eraar.1 

We  have  now  reached  our  goal,  the  end  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  and  if  we  look  hack  and  con- 
template the  vicissitudes  of  Italy,  such  as  no  other 
nation  ever  experienced,  twice  on  the  throne  of 
Europe,  three  times  crowned  with  its  crown,  — 
Imperial,  Ecclesiastical,  Intellectual,  — and  resurvey 
the  three  centuries  daring  which  foreign  tyrant  ami 
native  priest  joined  hands  to  smother  and  quench  the 
Italian  fire,  and  then  read  in  detail  the  heroic  acts 
of  the  men  who  sacrificed  themselves  for  Italian 
freedom,  we  shall  feel  sure  that  the  dull  colours  of 
the  present  generation  are  but  signs  of  a  time  of 
rest,  and  that  the  genius  of  Italy  lives  within  and 
will  again  enrich  the  world  with  deeds  of  men 
Bpning  from  the  "gentle  Latin  blood." 

1  Fulfil,  ()  gracious  God,  my  anxious  prayer, 

That,  '.  "Mi-  among  tin-  citizens  "f  Heaven 

I  may  enjoy  Thy  Light,  Thy  Face,  forever. 


APPENDIX 


CHRONOLOGICAL   TABLE   OF   POPES    AND    EMPERORS 


°1 

*1 

c  o 

Popes. 

Emperors. 

A 

^ 

A.D. 

A.  D. 

468 

Romulus  Aneustulus  .... 

478 

483 

Felix  in 

491 

492 

Gebisius  l 

4!h; 

Anastamus  ii 

498 

Symiiiaelius 

498 

Lam  .-in  ins  (Anti-pope) 

514 

I  Iiu  inisdas 

John  i 

618 

BBS 

Felix  iv 

JUSTINIAN  ■ 

627 

530 

Bonifjic-  ii 

■ 

Diosoonu  i  Anti-pope) 

John  ii 

Aeapetna  i 

Silverina 

Vigilins 

ius  I 

660 

John  in 

666 

674 

did  i 

678 

590 

GREGORY   I     II IK 
GREA1    - 

602 

Sabiniamu 

Bonifatw  m 

Boniface  rv 

IIEUACLIUS 

610 

I  edit 

618 

■  ice  V 

• 

I  [oDOl  HIH  I 

IIII1H 

1   All  tbi  K.n.|Hr..m  between   Roriiulim  Auifiihliilu*  aii'l  Charlm.  >. 
■taniiiH>|.l>-. 

*  c»i>u.ii»  dMfafHkh  th<-  bob!  rii.imiit  PvpM  and  BBtpafem 


422 


APPENDIX 


T  I 

o.2 

si 

Popes. 

Emperors. 

u 

£  : 

tS  s 

< 

< 

640 

John  IV 

Constantino  m                     j 

G41 

Ileracleonas,  Constans  n   1  ' 

642 

Thi>odorus  I 

649 

Martin  i 

664 

Gugenins  i 

657 

Vitalianna 

Constantine  IV  (Pogonatus) 

(568 

672 

Adeodatus 

676 

1  )i)iimus  l 

678 

Agatho 

682 

Leo  ii 

683? 

Benedict  II 

tis:. 

Conon 

C85 

686? 

687 

Sergins  i 

687 

Paschal  (Anti-pope) 

687 

Theodorus  (Anti-pope) 

()04 

697 

701 

John  vi 

71 6 

Justinian  n  restored    .... 

706 

708 

Sisinnins 

708 

Coustantine 

Philippicus  Bardanes  .... 

711 

Gregory  u 

713 

715 

Theodosius  ill 

716 

LEO  III  (THE  ISAURIAN)  . 

718 

731 

Gregory  ill 

741 

Constantine  v  (Copronynius)     . 

741 

752 

Stephen  n 

752 

Stephen  hi 

7.">7 

Paul  I 

768 

Stephen  iv 

772 

Hadrian  i 

LEO  III 

775 

780 

795 

Deposition  of    Constantine   vi 

7!  17 

CHARLEMAGNE.    . 

800 

Lewis  i  (the  Pious)      .     . 

£ 

814 

816 

Stephen  iv 

s 

817 

Paschal  I 

J 

824 

Ejogenins 

a 

827 

Valentinus 

'Si 

827 

Gregory  iv 

840 

844 

Sergius  11 

T. 

847 

Leo  iv 

x.-,.-, 

855 

APPENDIX 


423 


o.2 

o.2 

Popea. 

Emperors. 

j   1 

»l 

i   - 
< 

856 

Anastasras    Ami-pope) 

M«  SOLAS  1 

Hadrian  11 

872 

John  vin 

Charlea  d   the  Bald 
Charles  m  (the  Fat  1    .    . 

878 
881 

Martin  II 

384 

Hadrian  in 

385 

Stephen  v 

891 

Gnido        1  .  T.   ,, 

Lambert  \      Itahans  •    •    •    • 

891 

896 

Boniface  vi 

Stephen  \  i 

Arnulf,  German 

m  h  ; 

- 

Kniiianils 

Theodore  ii 

>'.» 

John  l.x 

900 

}'•■  W  <  1  ic-t  IV 

Lewis  in  (of  Provence)    .     .     . 

\H)\ 

903 

1 

( Ihristophez 

!MU 

Sergina  in 

911 

Anaataaius  in 

913 

Lando 

'.Ml 

John  x 

928 

Leo  vi 

929 

Stephen  vn 

931 

John  xi 

Leo  vn 

Stephen  vm 

941 

Martin  in 

946 

Agapetna  n 

John  xii 

OTTO  THE  GREAT    . 

962 

Leo  vm 

1 ;.  n.  did  9   Ant L-pop 

e 

John  xin 

= 

972 

Benediel  vi 

3 

Otto  ii 

= 

973 

Boniface  vn( Anti-po] 

0 
H 

•'71 

I  )nlnnil-    II 

■ 
J. 

Benedict  vn 

Otto  in 

"Vi 

John  xv 

■  y  v 

John  x  vi    Anti-p 
SILVESTER  11 

Bear)                    \»  .    .    .    . 

1009 

John  xvn 

1003 

.J..I1I1    XVIII 

'  Twoi 


I  l.r»rki-t.-l  tOgtllMC  iii'ln\iti-  rn.il  .  1  lunata 


424 


APPENDIX 


a 

Popes. 

Emperors. 

81 

(HO 

■sj 

L009 

Sergius  i  v 

1012 

Benedict  viu 

1024 

1024 

1033 

Benedict  IX 

HENRY  III 

1039 

1044 

Mlvester  (Anti-pope) 

10451 

Gregory  VI 

1046 

1  'lenient  II 

1048 

Damasus  u 

9 

1048 

Leo  ix 

.3 

1054 

Victor  ii 

>-3 

HENRY  17     ...    . 

a 

2 

1056 

1067 

Stephen  ix 

"3 

1068 

Benedict   x 

o 
a 

1069 

Nicholas  n 

a 

■ 

lOtil 

Alexander  n 

1073 

GREGORY    VU     (Hilde- 

brand) 

1080 

Clement  (Anti-pope) 

1086 

Victor  in 

1087 

Urban  u 

1099 

Paschal  u 

1106 

Ills 

Gelasius  n 

1118 

Gregory  (Anti-pope) 

111!) 

Calixtus  II 

112] 

Celestine  (Anti-pope) 

1124 

Honoriua  ii 

Lothair  ii  (the  Saxon) 

1125 

1130 

Innocent  n 
(Anacletus,  Anti-pope) 

1138 

Victor  (Anti-pope)     .     .     . 

1138 

1143 

Celestine  11 

1144 

Lucius  li 

1145 

Eugenius  ill 

FREDERICK    I 

a$ 

(BARBAROSSA)     .     . 

S 

1152 

1153 

Anastasius  iv 

3 

1154 

Hadrian  IV 

a 

1169 

ALEXANDER IH 

a 
■3 

1169 

Victor  (Anti-pope) 

11(14 

Paschal  (Anti-pope) 

3 

1168 

Calixtus  (Anti-pope) 

s 

1181 

Lucius  m 

3 

1185 

Urban  m 

w 

1187 
11S7 

Gregory  viu 

(lenient  HI 

HENRY  VI 

1190 

1191 

Celestine  in 

([Philip] 

/  Otto  iv  of  Brunswick 

1198 

1198 

INNOCENT  III  .... 

.    . 

1208 

1  Those  in  brackets  never  received  the  Imperial  crown. 


APPENDIX 


425 


.   1 — 

_  z 
o  o 

_  = 

1  - 

1  1 

Pope*. 

F.mperora. 

■< 

*3 

FREDERICK  11 

a    . 

1212 

1216 

Honorius  ill 

i  - 

1227 
1241 

GREGORY  IX 
Celestinc  iv 

1J41 

Y.o  aiuy 

• 

z   ~ 

1249 

lllllo.  •  lit    IV 

[Conrad    iv]  j     .    .    . 

Williaml          J 

m** 

1250 

1254 

Alexander  iv 

[Richard,  Earl  of  \ 

1264 

( 'urn  wall] 
[Alfonso,  King  of  j     '     ' 

•  • 

1257 

Castile]                > 

1261 

Urban  iv 

1265 

Clement  iv 

1269 

Vacant  y 

1271 

Gregory  x 

[Rudolf  i  (of  Hapsburg)] 

1272 

1276 

[nnooent  v 

1276 

Ha.liian   V 

1276 

John  XXl ! 

1277     Nicholas  m 

1281       Martin  IV 

1288      HiiimriuB  iv 

Nicholas  iv 

,.*,. 

1294 

ine  v 

1294 

BONIFA"  E  Vin 

[Albert  i  (of  Hapshvrg    , 

1298 

1303 

Benedict  xi 

( Element  v 

■M 

Z 

HENRY  VII  (of  Luxem him 

1308 

1314 

\':i<-  -nicy 

~    >'. 

Lewis  iv  (of  Bavaria'  .     . 

1314 

1816 

John  xxii 

i  j 

1334 

Benedict  xn 

*■  c'« 

'  Lament  vi 

§(C 

1362     Innocent  vi 

u 

(liaih  s   IV    i  House  of  Lux.  m- 

I 'il.au  \ 

■  \   I  ; 

> 

1 .17 

< 

i  :- 

|                      VI.    <    1.  111.  lit      VII 

\V.  n/.  1      II. ,u-.       ..f      I.n\.  i 

All! 

Bonifaee  ix 

j 

Benediet   Anti-pope) 

/ 

Rupert  (Count  Palatine  | 

1400 

1404 

Inn..i  BBt  VII 

i 

1406 

iv  XII       | 

[40g 

inder  v    / 

.loliti  XXIII          )                      J 

C 

1410 

mund    !!■  dm  of  I.ux.'in- 

HIT 

Man  in  v 

1410 

11    1 

Eugene  iv 

Tim  I'ope  »kipp«xl  V     a 


426 


APPENDIX 


«.  c 

a 

°  2 

c.2 

Popes. 

Emperors. 

i\ 

< 

< 

[Albert  n  (of  Ilapsburg)]1   .     . 

1438 

1 189 

Felix  v  (Anti-pope) 

1440 

HIT 

NICHOLAS  V 

1455 

Calixtus  in 

1  l.-.s 

Pill*     |[ 

J5  i 

14m 

Paul  ii 

*■  a 

1171 

SIXTUS  IV 

.  c  a? 

IIS) 

Innocenl  vni 

00  "3 

1493 

Alexander  vi 

p.3 

14<»3 

1603 

Pius  in 

£h  — 

1503 

JULIUS  II 

1513 

LEOX 

1519 

1522 

Hadrian  VI 

1523 

Clement  vn 

1534 

Paul  IJI 

■H 

1550 

Julius  III 

0     . 

1556 

Marcellns  n 

~  a 

1 555 

Paul  IV 

1558 

1559 

PIUS  IV 

o 

1564 

1566 

Pius  v 

1572 

Gregory  xm 

[Rudolf  ii ] 

1576 

1585 

SIXTUS  V 

L590 

Urban  vn 

1590 

Gregory  xiv 

l.V.H 

Innocent  IX 

1592 

Clement  vm 

1605 

Leo  xi 

1605 

Paul  v 

[Matthias] 

1612 

1619 

ir>2i 

Gregory  xv 

1623 

Urban  VIII 

1637 

1644 

Innocent  x 

1655 

Alexander  vn 

1658 

1667 

Clement  ix 

1670 

Clement  x 

1676 

Innocent  XI 

1689 

Alexander  VIII 

1601 

Innocent  xn 

1700 

Clement  XI 

1705 

1711 

1  From  1438  to  1806,  with  the  exception  of  Francis  I  of  Lorraine,  the  House  of  Haps- 
burg  was  on  the  Imperial  throne. 
*  Ferdinand  and  his  successors  took  the  title  Emperor  Elect. 


APPENDIX 


427 


c 

a 

°"3 

0  - 

t-  i 

Pope*. 

Eniperore. 

|1 

*l 

15 

1720 

llllliu -t'llt    XIII 

1724 

Benedict  xm 

17-10 

Benedict  xiv 

[Francia   i.  nuaband   of   Blaria 

1 7  1J 

1743 

17S8 

Clement  xn 

Joa*  pi 

1788 

1789 

Clement  xm 

1    House    nt'     1 1  :ips_ 

177.-. 

Pius  vi 

1      burg     through 

[Leopold  u]        M.u  la  Ther<  sa. 

1790 

Fraiuis  ll J  ' 

1792 

1800 

Pius  vn 

Alxliiatiun  of  Francis  n        .     . 

1806 

Leo  xn 

1829 

Rua  vin 

1831 

<  ir.  gory  xvi 

1846 

rns  i.\ 

1878 

LEO  X 1 1 1 

1903 

Pius  x 

428 


APPENDIX 


II 


GENEALOGY    OF    THE    MEDICI 


Giovanni  Bicci,  d.  1429. 

I 


Cosimo,  Pater  Patriae,  d.  14G4. 

Piero,  d.  14C9. 

I 


Lorenzo  the  Magnificent, 
I       d.  1482. 


1 
Piero,  d.  1503. 

I 
Lorenzo,  Duke 
of  Urbino, 
d.  1519. 

I 


Alessandro, 
d.  1537. 


Giovanni,  Pope 
Leo  X,  d.  1521. 


Giuliano,  d.  1478. 


Giulio,  Pope  Clement 
VII,   d.  1534. 


Caterina,  m.  Henri  II 
of  France,  d.  1589. 


Lorenzo,  d.  1440. 
Piero  Francesco,  1467. 


Giovanni,  m.  Caterina 
Sforza,  d.  1498. 


Giovanni,  "delle 

bande  nere," 

d.  1526. 


Cosimo  I,  Grand 
Duke,  d.  1574. 


Francesco  I,  d.  1587. 
m.  Joanna  of  Austria,  also 
Bianca  Cappello. 

Maria,  m.  Henri  IV 
of  France. 


Ferdinand  I, 
d.  1609. 


Cosimo  II,  d.  1621. 
I 
Ferdinand  II,  d.  1670. 

Cosimo  III,  d.  1723. 

Giovanni  Gastone,  d.  1737. 


APPENDIX 


429 


ni 

SKELETON   TABLE    OF   THK    KINGS    <>F   THE    TWO    SICII.Il- 

NAPLES  KINGDOM   OF  THE   TWO  SICILIES  SICILY 

BTORMAB   COHQD1  31 
last  half  of  eleventh  oaulurj. 
Roger,  d.  1154. 


William  the  Bad,  d.  11GC. 

I 
William  the  Good,  d.  11 S9. 


Constance,  d.  1198, 

marrir.l 
Henry  VI,  Emperor,  d.  1107. 


Frederick  II,  Emperor,  d.  1260. 


Conrad  IV,  d.  1254. 
I 


Manfred,  d.  1266. 


Conradin,  d.  1268. 

FRENCH   CONQUEST.  1266. 
Charles  of  Anjou,  1266-1282. 

SICILIAN   VESPERS,  1282. 

House  Of  Anjou,  1266-1442.  House  of  Aragon,  1 

Alfonso  of  Aragon, 
1442- 144S. 


House  of  Aragon, 
illegitimate, 

14-1-1504. 


SPANISH    CONQUEST,  1S04. 

Ferdinand  the  Catholic,  1504-1516. 


House  of  Aragon, 
legitimate,  which,  on 
marriage  of  Ferdinand 
of  Anson  with  i*u 
bella  of  Ca«til.'.  !«■• 
camo  House  of  Spain, 
1448-1504. 


Austria,  1713-1720. 


Charles  V,  Emperor,  1S16 

Spanih).  I  1713. 

TREATY   <»F  UTRECHT,  1713. 

Savoy,  1713-1720. 
WILL  01  QUADBUPLI   ALLIANCE,  l. 

Auntria,  1720 

PKA01    01      Ml  NN  \.    173*. 

S|.ain»ii  BombOBi 

1798   1802.  | 
K|«iiix)i  Bourbona, 
I  h  Bonaparte, 

i 

Fran.  i.  I.   I 

„..|  II    183 
Frai 

1  Whi-n  tlii  two  kingdoms  are  united  the  oamet  "I  the  Wing*  aro  put  lu  th*  mi -Llln 
roiumu.  wfcm  wpmte  ii'  1  "'y- 


430  APPENDIX 


IV 

LIST   OF   BOOKS    FOR   GENERAL   READING 

For  the  Middle  Ages 

Italy  ami  her  Invaders Thomas  Hodgkin. 

Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire  Edward  Gibbon. 

History  of  Latin  Christianity   ....  Dean  Milman. 

Koine  in  the  Middle  Ages  (translated 
from    the   German    by   Mrs.  G.    \Y. 

Hamilton) F.  Gregorovius. 

Mediaeval  Europe Ephraim  Emerton. 

Italian  Chronicles  of  the  Middle  Ages  •  Ugo  Balzani. 

Story  of  the  Byzantine  Empire     .      .     .  C.  W.  C.  Oman. 

History  of  the  Later  Roman  Empire     .  J.  Bury. 

The  Holy  Roman  Empire James  Bryce. 

Historical    Documents    of    the    Middle 

Ages Ernest  F.  Henderson. 

The  Papal  Monarchy William  Barry. 

A  History  of  the  Inquisition  in  the  Mid- 
dle Ages H.  C.  Lea. 

An  Historical  Sketch  of  Sacerdotal  Cel- 

ihacy  in  the  Christian  Church         .     .  H.  C.  Lea. 

History  of  Auricular  Confession  and  In- 
dulgences in  the  Latin  Church  .     .     .  H.  C.  Lea. 

History  of  Western  Europe      ....  J.  H.  Robinson. 

First  Two  Centuries  of  Florence  (trans- 
lated from  the  Italian  by  Linda  Villari)  Pasquale  Villari. 

Florence,  Mediaeval  Towns  Series     .     .  E.  C.  Gardner. 

The  History  of  Venice W.  Carew  Hazlitt. 

A  Short  History  of  Venice W.  R.  Thayer. 

Church  Building  in  the  Middle  Ages     .  Charles  Eliot  Norton. 

The  Monks  of  the  West  from  St.  Bene- 
dict to  St.  Bernard  (translated  from 

the  French) Montalembert. 

The  Classical  Heritage  of  the  Middle 

Ages H.  O.  Taylor. 

Life  of  St.  Francis  of  Assisi  (translated 

from  the  French  by  L.  S.  Houghton)  Paul  Sabatier. 


APPENDIX  431 

For  On  Rerurixsanee 

The  Civilization  of  the  Renaissance  in 
Italy  (translated  from  the  German 
by  S.  G.  C.  Middlemore) Jakob  Bnrekhardt. 

The  Cicerone Jakob  Bnrekhardt. 

Renaissance  in  Italy  (The  Age  of  the 
Despots,  Revival  of  Learning,  Pine 
Arts,  Literature,  Catholic  Reaction)  .    .John  Addington  Symonds. 

History  of  the  Italian  Republics  in  the 
Middle  Ages  (translated  from  the 
French) S.  de  Sismondi. 

History  of  the  Popes  of  Rome  (trans- 
lated from  the  German  by  Sarah 
Austin) Leopold  Ranke. 

The  Papacy  during  the  Reformation      .     M.  Creighton. 

The  Renaissance Cambridge  Mod.  History. 

History  of  the  ropes  from  the  Close  of 
the  Middle  Ages  (translated  from  the 
I  rerman  ) L.  Pastor. 

The  Council  of  Trent I.  A.  Fronde. 

Petrarch,  the  First  Modern  Scholar  and 

Man  of  Letters Robinson  &  Rolfe. 

Lives   of   the    Most    Eminent    Painters. 

Sculptors,  and  Architects  (translated 
from  tbe  [talian  by  Mrs.  Foster)  .     .     Giorgio  Vasari. 
Journal  of  Montaigne's  Travels  in  Italy. 

For  the  Eighteenth  ( '<  ntury 
Studies  of   the    Eighteenth    Century    in 

Italy Vernon  I  • 

Goldoni's  Memoirs,  translated  by     .     .     W.  D.  Howells. 
Memoirs  of  Carlo  Gozzi F.  A.  Symonds. 

For  tic  Ruorguat  nto 

The  liberation  of  Italy EvelynM   Cesareaoo 

Italian  Cbaxaeten  of  tbe  Bpoob  of  Qui- 

Dcation Evelyn  M.  ( 

nioa  of  Pal    |  1815  1886)  •    •    •  W.  J.  still.na... 

Life  of  Yietor  Emmanuel  D    ....  G.  8.  Godkin. 

The   Dawn  of  Italian   I  ndepi  mb-nec  .       \V     P    Thaver. 

Modem    Ftaly,    IT!  instated 

from  the  Italian  by  Alice  Viall  Pii  trc 


INDEX 


Aachf.v,  5P. 

Abyssinians  defeat  Italians,  415. 

AgneDo,  Father,  71,  72. 

Aistnlf.  49, 

Alarie,  5. 

Alberic,  76, 

Alberti,  Leon  Battista,  ML 

Albinola.  370. 

Albizzi,  Maso  degli,  230. 

Alboin,  27,  -".'. 

Albornoz,  Cardinal,  918. 

Alessi,  <  laleazzo,  30C. 

Alexander  VI,  Pope  (Bodrigo  Bor- 
gia i.  and  Savonarola,  261;  political 
course.    272,   278;   private  life,    276; 

death, 276;  his  apartments  In  Vati- 
can. . 

Alexander  VII,  Pope,  34C. 

Alfleri,  Vlttorio, 

Alfonso,  of  A  rag King  of  Two  Si- 

Interest  in  humanism, 
949;  tns  death,  262, 

AiuaM,  7".  73,  103. 
Aniati. 

Aminanati,  306. 
\ 

Antiguati, 
Apollo  Belvi 

.  King  of,  swears  allegiance  to 
Innocent  III,  122, 

I    I 

ted  bj  Justinian,  18. 

Aristotle,  19, 

Arnold  of  Bl 

Arnolfo  dl  Camhio,  188. 

Arniilf,  Emperor,  ti  ,  enters  Koine,  7:.. 

AspromonU 

be  re  tics  Id,  I 
127,  1-- :  basilica  ol  Bl   1 

u  by  Milan  temporal  lly,  ."-'7. 
made  a  Latin  del,  1 1 
tured  by  \  • 
Athens.  Duke  of,  see  Walter  of  Brienne. 
Attcndolo,  '•:  .   Alt'  :. 

dolo. 

Augustine,  in  England, 

LStUlUS, 

n  llo|> 
Alllai  imphant  li 

li  witii  Krai 


mont,  400,  401  j  war  with  Prussia  and 
Italy,  407. 
Avignon,  161;   Petrarch  at,  204;  return 
ol  Popes  to  B from.  217  ;  anti- 
popes  of  Great  Behism  at.  219. 

Babylonish  captivity,  151 ;  end  of,  217, 
218. 

Bagllonl,  in  Perugia,  1  •-. 

Bandlnetil, 

Banditti 

Bank  scandal 

Barbarians,  their  character,  1 ;  their 
society.  3;  habits,  4;  intercourse 
with  Home,  6. 6;  dismember  Empire, 
8;  their  problems  In  Italy,  10;  de- 
scribed by  Boetnlus,  19;  so-called 

!'•:.  ,267. 

Barbaros8a,see  Frederick  1.  Emperor. 
Barberinl,  see  1  rban  VlII,  Pope, 
Baroque,  thi  ,861. 

Barozzl,  Glacomo,  Bee  Vignola. 
Basel,  Council  of,  91 
Beccai  is 
Bellsarlus,  91. 
Bellini,  composer,  .158,378. 

Bellini,  Gentile,  812. 
Bellini.  Giovanni,  812. 
Bellini,  Jacopo 
Bellotto 

Belli! 

Benedetto  da  Maiai 

llct,  see  st.  Benedict 
Benevei 

BentlvogUo,  In  Bologna,  1  - 
Berchet, 
Bergamo  anuexed  to  \  enlce, 

Bernn. 

.  Vespaslano  da, 
Black  Heath,  see  Plague  ol  1 
BoboU  gardei 

B ac  account  of   Black 

!i.  209.  210. 
Boethlu 

lo,  Matt.-... 

Bologna,  Jurists  of,    m>;   unh 

Of,    1  ■       Bent! 

rogll  In,    1  l  to    Papacy, 

|cc\ 

ered  b)  Pa|  >  M011 

.  .  uting), 


434 


INDEX 


Boniface  VIII,  Pope.  L46;  Ms  char- 
acter, i  W ;  quarrel  « i  1 1 1  the  Colonna, 
1 1: ;  with  Philip  tin'  Fair,  us;  his 
papal  theories,  148,  149;  outraged, 
160:  death,  161. 

Bonifazio.  815. 

Bordone,  Paris.  812. 

Borghese,  Camillo,  Bee  I'aul  v.  Pope. 

Borgia, Caesar, 272  276:  employs  Leo- 
nardo, -'si; ;  believed  tci  have  mur- 
dered ids  brother,  814;  admired  by 
Machiavelli,  31 i. 

Borgia,  Lucrezla,  276. 

Borgia,  Kodrigo,  see  Alexander  VI, 
Pope. 

Borgia,  son  to  Kodrigo,  see  Duke  of 
Gandia. 

Botticelli, 246  'JIT, 288. 

Bourbon,  High  Constable,  279. 

Bourbon,  House  of,  :;:;."■,  33!>. 

Bramante,  266,  283,285;  in  Rome,  287; 
designs  st.  Peter's,  289,  290. 

Brescia,  captured  by  Henry  VII,  157; 
annexed  by  Venice,  224;  gallant  de- 
fence of,  391. 

Hrienne,  Walter  of,  Duke  of  Athens, 
229. 

Bronzino,  308,  309. 

Brunelleschi,  233,236-237;  and  Dona- 
tello,  anecdote  of.  238,  239. 

Bruno,  Giordano,  349. 

Burckhardt,  304  ;  on  Bandinelli,  308. 

Burgundy,  Ts. 

Byron,  Lord.  372-376. 

Byzantine  art,  188, 189. 

Cacciaguida,  180. 

Cambrai,  League  of,  224,  265,  266. 

Cambrai,  treaty  of,  293. 

Camorra,  204,412. 

Caropanella,  349. 

Canalctto,  362. 

Can  Grande,  see  under  Seala  della. 

Canon  law,  see  Church  law. 

Canossa,  99. 

Cappello,  Bianca,  327. 

Caracci,  tlie,  309, 352. 

(alalia.  Cardinal,  see  Paul  IV,  Pope. 

Caravagglo,  309, 352. 

Carbonari,  369,382. 

Cardinals,  made  papal  electors,  91. 

Carducci,  on  Tasso,  310. 

Carissimi,  358. 

Carlo  Alberto,  375,  376,  379.  380,  384, 

385 ;  war  with  Austria,  388 ;  resigns 

his  crown,  390. 
Carlo  Dolci,  352. 
carlo  Felice, 375. 
Carlovinglans,  the,  44,  57,58. 
Carlyle,  mi  Mazzini,  382. 
Carmagnola.  228. 
Carnival.  Roman,  330. 

Carpaccio,  312. 
Cassiodorus,  u. 

Cast iglione,  281-283. 

Castlllia,  370. 

Castracane,  Castruccio,  200. 


Cateau-Cambresis,  treaty  of,  293,  296, 

827. 
Catholic  Reaction,  see  Catholic   Be 

vival. 
Catholic  Revival,  297-802. 
Cavalcanti,  184. 

Cavaliere  Bervente,  866. 

Cavour,  886, 887 :  policy  of  Church  and 

stab-.  898  :  policy  In  Piedmont,  898  : 

as   to   Crimean    War,  898,  899;  and 

Napoleon  111,899,400;  resigns, 401; 

recalled, 402;  interference  in  Naples. 

404  ;  death,  406. 
Celibacy  of  clergy,  86. 
Cellini,  808,  316,817. 
Certosa,  at  Pavia,  226,227,250. 
Cervantes,  297. 

Charlemagne,  blessed  by  Pope,  16; 
marriage,  alt;  Donation  of.  Mi;  Euro- 
pean c ruests,  51  i  titles,  :,:;■  per- 

son  and  character,  63  ;  judges  Pope, 

66 ;  receives  gifts  from  *  !aliph,  a.r> \ 

coronal  Ion,    66 ;     his    Empire,   :<'• . 

crowns  his  son,  59. 
Charles  of  Anjou,  Ml,  161,  162;  visits 

Clmabue's  studio.  189. 
Charles  of  Durazzo,  222. 
Charles     V,    Emperor,   struggle    with 

Francis  l,  267 ;  policy  in  Florence, 

262,263;  marries  daughter  to  Ales- 
Bandrodel  Medici,  263;  Inherits  Two 
Sicilies, 264 ;  crowned  Emperor, 299; 

and  Council  of  Trent,  300. 

Charles  VI I  Living  of  Prance,  256, 257, 
269. 

Charles  Martel,  44,  53. 

Chigi,  see  Alexander  VII,  Pope. 

Church,  the  (see also  Papacy;,  causes 
Of  its  rise,  8;  orthodoxy,  10;  rela- 
tions with  Empire,  16  ;  during  Lom- 
bard dominion,  31  ;  imperial  charac- 
ter, 32 ;  sources  of  power,  32,  33. 

Church  law,  65. 

Cieisbeismo,  356. 

Cimabue,  189. 

Cimarosa,  358. 

Cinquecento,  the,  304-318. 

Ciompi,  229. 

Clare,  St.,  see  St.  Clare. 

Classical  revival.  201-208. 

(lenient  V,  1'ope,  161;  dealings  with 
Henry  VlL  166. 

Clement  VII,  Pope,  262,  277,  278-280; 
crowns  Charles  V,  299. 

Clement  IX,  Pope,  346. 

Clergy,  in  Carlovingian  times,  71. 

Cluiiv,  monastic  reform  of,  85;  its 
creed,  si;  ;  its  effect,  sx. 

Cola,  di  Rienzo,  206-208;  dreams  for 
Rome,  206;  letter  to  Florentines, 
•JOT;  his  fall  and  death.  207. 

Colleoni,  statue  of,  247,  311. 

Colonia  Erithrea,  see  ( lolony  in  Africa. 

Colonna,  the.  76;  quarrel  with  Boni- 
face VII I,  146;  Pope  Martin  V,  220  ; 
custom  in  their  palace,  277,  278. 

Colonna,  Sciarra.  150. 


INDEX 


435 


Colony  in  Africa,  415. 
Columbanus,  B  3    Oolumbanua 

Commedia  tieir  Arti 
Commlnes,  Ptullppede,on  Ven 
Oomm  imem   ot 

prosperity  of,  188    see  also  Lorn, 

ban 
Company,  the  Great,  SIS, 
Concordat  "f  Worn  • 
CondottierL 
Confalonlei 
Conradin,  143,  144. 
Consolations  of  Philosophy,  19. 
[Constance],  wife  of  Henry  VI,  118, 

114,  11T. 

•    luncll  of,  220,231,268. 

:.  112, 

of  Donation, 
46,  47. 
Constantino;  ;  tared  byCro- 

i,  118,  119;  by  Tnrk>.  242,243, 

Consuls 

Conti.  family,  135. 

itton  of  hmperors,  80;  last  In 
Italy, 

mder  MedlcL 

Cosl I.   tirand     Duke,   see    under 

iici. 
Coiintrr-Heformation,  see  Catholic  Re- 
vival. 
Courtier,  Book  of  I 
Cremoi  Henry  VII . 

rritieni.  353. 

<\  338. 
young  patriot.  402 ;  with 
- 
414 ;  in  parliament,  414.  415, 
Crown  of  Lombardy,  k";  assuo 

.189. 

Damlai  imlaa 

VIII,  i  ;• 
harscter,  162, 
•    rtews, 

Henrj   \  I  I  follows 

Thomas  Aquinas,  i7'.«;  Importance 
In  llteratun 

h.  184  ,  on  the  rernacul 


I  lee  imen ' 

i 
i  ■ 

i  -  of,  214. 

:  i 

! 

:  i 

■  magne,  50. 


Donation    of    Constant' 
Donation  <>f  Pippin,  4:..  47,50. 

Ducal  palace,  Venta 
Duomo,  Ptoreuee,  . 
Durante,  3  3. 

Election  of  Bmpen 

:i  ol  Popes,  'i 
Kmanuele  Flliberto,  298. 

Empire,  the,  see  the  Roman  Empire. 
Empire,  Eastern,  24  ;  us  policy,  m, 
England 

1  ii;  capture,  it: ,  death,  143. 
11'.  Ercole,  duke,  S 
Bate,  House  of.  198,282;  move  to  Mo- 
deiia. 

Estensl,  n     Bous 
Kugenius  I  V.  Popt 

Buellno  da  Romano,  184 
Pallero,  .Marino, 

Alessandro,  see  Pan!  ill, 

1'ope. 

Parnese,  Oiulla,  271 

Parnesl,  in  Parma,  290 ;  in  Pta 

Perdinand  tin-  Catholic, 263  ;  eonquera 

Naples,  263,  264. 
Perdinand    1,    of   Two    5 

370. 
Perdinand  II,  of  Two  8       •  -   B<  mba), 

M  ;  death,  • 
Perrara,  246;   in  High  Renaissance, 

•  iken  by  I'm  1 .1  j  1  ..^soat, 
810;  risited  by  Montaigne, 

1 

Picino,  Maralllo, 

library  at.  z  ...  284,  S81 

•  .  Mlno  da 
Flllcala 

mis.  175, 
Flemish  painters, 

Florence,  Guelf.  1. :; .  denounced  by 
shuts  out  Hem  \  VII, 
•  r  i_- 1 1  i  1 . l - .  164  .  w..,.|  trai 
bankers,  167  ;  impediments  to  trade, 

■ 
m    12* 
about  in    Black    Death. 

210  ,  '  I  'ike  of 

Alheit  t  ..|  (  lompl,  228; 

•1     hele  dl 

In  Putl        : 

■ 
■ 

.     :•  1    b]     MOO 

1 

i 


436 


INDEX 


Foscarl,  Francesco,  Doge,  224. 

Fosoolo,  1  go,  377. 

France,  68;  bowa  to  Innocent  III, 
122;  vigorous  monarchy,  146;  Invades 
Italy,  263,  -'.'4.  266  ;  claims  on  Italy, 
293;  defeated  by  Spain.  20:;;  sends 
army  to  Rome,  891,  892,894;  with- 
draws garrison  from  Rome,  -to? ;  re- 
lations with  Italy.  412,  413. 

Franceses,  Plero  della,  249. 

Francesco  I .  <  •  rami  Duke  of  Tuscany, 
328,  327. 

Francis  1.  King  of  France,  267. 

Francis  1.  Ring  of  Two  Sicilies,  378. 

Francis  II.  King  of  Two  Sicilies,  402, 
104. 

Francis,  St.,  see  St.  Francis. 

Franciscan  Order,  129,  131-133;  Gray 
Friars,  134. 

Franks.  40  ;  Kingdom  of,  43;  Catholi- 
cism of.  4:;. 

Frederick  I.  Emperor  (Rarbarossa), 
102:  character,  102;  theory  of  im- 
perial rights.  103;  wars  with  Lom- 
bard cities,  108 ;  called  to  Italy,  108, 
109;  war  with  Milan.  109;  diet  at 
Roncaglia,  ill;  defeat  at  Legnano, 
112;  his  son's  marriage,  113;  death, 
113. 

Frederick  II,  Emperor,  117  ;  gratitude 
to  Innocent  III,  117;  summons  to 
Germany,  121;  pledge  to  Innocent 
III,  121,  122;  King  of  Germany. 
122;  character,  134;  promises,  135; 
crowned  emperor,  135;  at  Brindisi, 
136  ;  denounced  by  Gregory  IX,  136, 
137;  excommunicated,  137;  letter  to 
King  of  England,  138,  139;  recovers 
Jerusalem.  139  ;  King  of  Jerusalem, 
140;  his  habits,  140,141  ;  poetry,  141; 
war  with  Lombard  cities,  142;  ex- 
communicated again,  142;  defeat, 
142  ;  death,  143;  times  of,  180. 

Galileo,  346, 349. 

Gamba,  Pietro,373,  374. 

Gandia,  Duke  of  (a  Borgia),  murdered, 
312. 

Garibaldi,  882;  in  Rome,  392,  393 ;  es- 
capes, 394,  398 ;  expedition  to  Two 
Sicilies,  402-405;  attempt  on  Rome, 
406;  second  attempt,  Mentana,  407  ; 
death,  413. 

Genoa,  70;  prosperity,  106;  war  with 
Pisa,  169,  170  ;  submits  temporarily 
t"  Milan,  199;  loss  in  Black  Death, 
2lo;  war  with  Venice,  224;  still  a 
republic.  295;  palaces  in,  306;  be- 
comes Republic  of  Liguria,  365; 
given  to  Kingdom  of  Sardinia,  367. 

Genseric,  5. 

Germany.  68  ;  its  duchies,  77  ;  part  of 
Holy  Roman  Empire,  78;  attitude 
towards  its  king,  96;  in  time  of  In- 
nocent III,  120, 121. 

Gesii,  church,  305, 306. 

Gesuati,  321. 


Ghibellines.ir,:. :  trouble  in  Milan,  157; 
cause  lost.  169;  description  of.  168, 
169:  described  by  Gregory  X,  176; 
fictitious  ;e\  i\al  of,  326. 

Ghibertl,  241. 

Ghlrlandalo,  Domenico,  245, 288. 

Giobertl,  888,  884. 

Giocondo,  Fra,  290. 

Giorglone,  312. 

Giotto,  189,  190. 

Giulio  Romano,  309. 

Gladstone,  on  conditions  In  Naples, 
395,  896. 

Goethe,  admires  Palladlo,  306,  307; 
admires  1  Promessi  Sposl,  877. 

GoldonI,  368  866. 

Gonzaga,  the,  in  Mantua,  198. 

( loths,  see  1  Ktrogoths. 

Gozzoli,  Benozzo,  233,  244. 

Cravina.  :;:>:;,  869. 

Great  Council  of  Venice,  171,  172. 

Greek,  study  of,  242,  '-'4.:. 

Greek  Empire,  overthrown  by  Cru- 
saders, 119. 

Gregory  1  (the  Great),  Pope,  35-37. 

Gregory  1 1.  Pope,  42,  ."•■':. 

Gregory  ill.  Pope,  42,  ">::. 

Gregory  VII,  Pope  1  Hildebrand),  89; 
character,  on :  aims.  91;  becomes 
Pope,  01;  creed,  91,    01',  claim-.   92j 

allies,  92-96  ;  denunciation  of  simony 
and  lay  investiture,  96:  attempted 
deposition  by  Henry  IV,  97  ;  excom- 
municates Henry  IV, 99;  at  Canossa, 
99;  his  death.  100. 

Gregory  IX,  Pope  (Ugolino),  135;  an- 
ger at  Frederick  II,  136;  letter  on 
Frederick,  135-137 :  excommunicates 
Frederick,  137. 

Gregory  X,  Pope,  describes  Ghibel- 
lines,  176. 

Gregory  XI,  Pope,  ends  Babylonish 
Captivity,  217. 

Gregory  XIII,  Pope,  328,  329. 

Gregory  XV.  Pope,  345. 

Gregory  XVI,  Pope,  383. 

Grossi.  Tommaso,  382. 

Guardi,  352. 

Guelfs,  accept  Henry  VII.  156 ;  trouble 
in  Milan,  157;  description  of,  168, 
169;  fictitious  revival  of,  325. 

Guercino,  352. 

Guerrazzi.  F.  D.,  382. 

Guicciardini,  on  condition  of  Italy. 
253,  254 ;  modern  historian,  281. 

Guido  Reni,  352,  360. 

Guilds,  164. 

Guinicelli,  184. 

Hapsburg,  House  of,  335,  338. 

Hawkwood,  John,  213,  222. 

Haynan,  391. 

Henry  IV,  Emperor,  90;  attempts  to 
depose  Gregory  VII,  97;  his  letter 
to  Cregorv,  97-99;  at  Canossa,  99; 
death,  inn. 

Henry  VI,  Emperor,  his  Sicilian  mar- 


INDEX 


437 


riage,  113;  character,  114;  his  acts, 

li".. 

Henrv  VII,  Emperor,  150;  welcomed 

by  Dante,  166,  156  ;  enters  Italy,  166  ; 

tdbelllne  chief,  161 1   re- 

-  letter  from  Dante,  I 
death,  169:  effect  of,  on  fortune-  of 

I ,  ramie  and  the  VlSCODtl,  198. 
Henry  IV.  King  of  France  (.Henry  of 
Nav.s: 

.  in  Southern   France,   138;   in 

Italy,  126;  iii  England  and  Bohemia, 

Hildebrand,  -  f  VII,  Pope. 

Hohenstaufens,  102,   113;   their  end, 

Hi.  144. 

Holy  Alllanot 

Holy  Soman  Empire,  beginning,  78; 
Its  power,  Bl .  atti- 
tude toward  Pap 

oordat  with  Papacy,  100;  death  strug- 
gle with  Papacy,  138;  real  end,  143; 
last  dicker,  162-160;  a  shadow.  161; 

it-   petty   bargainings,  217; 
tied  by  Napoleon, 
is,   Pope     133;    crowns    Fred- 
erick 1!.  135;  death,  I 
Humanists,  242,  .44.  246- 
Humbert  of  the  White  Hand,  173. 
Humbert,  King,  416. 
Hungarians,  raids  of,  ". 
.  John,  220,221. 

Iconoclasm,  41,  42. 

Index  Librorum  Prohibltoruni 

[nnocenl  in.  Pope,  his  education,  116: 

doings  In  Italy,  116;  In  Tuscany  and 

Two  Sicilies,  117  ;  at  Constantinople, 

119;  In  Germany,  120 :  exeommunl- 

-  Otto   IV.  121 :   his  doings  In 
I  >;  iii  England,  122;  Ali.i- 

U)   crusade,  123;   triumph,  123, 
i  _■  i ;  St.  Francis,  I 

.  I    I 

Innocent  VIII,  I 
[nnocenl  X,  Pop* 

I  li  l>< lit  \l.   POD* 

[nqulsltloi 

i 

plre  and  Pa 

Qflnenced   by 
its  dialect  - 
tlon  of,  middl.-  ol  6tl ii 

•   irlovlngian  Empire, 
condition   of 

tlon    prl^r  U>    l  <  ■ 
durlnic  Catholic    I 

entury, 

• 

fall 

Ocultles    a!l«-r    unit).  411   U 


a  itli  France,  412,  413  ;  Triple 
Alliance.  , 

Isldoriao  Decretals,  see  Decretal* 

jeroo  uie. 

Jerome  ol  Prague 

Jerusalem,  plan  for  reconquesl  of,  134 
ivered  by  Frederick  [I,  I 

.leslllt  -t\  le, 

■  irder  of,  299  ;  supi 

restored  In  Papal  Stat<  - 
Joan  I.  Queen  oi  Napl<  - 
Joan  1 1.  Queen  of  Napl<  - 
John  of  Bologna, : 
John.  Don,  ol  Austria,  I 
John,  King  of  England,  122,  I 
John  XII,  Pope,  78,81 .  his  trial, 

deposition,  B4 

Jolllllielll. 

Jubilee,  Brst,  iit. 
Julius  ii.  Pope,  r,288. 

Justin.  Emperor,  16. 
Justinian,  EmperOl 

LadlslaUS,  King  Of  Naples,  222,  230. 

I.auilin 

Lando,  Michele  dl.  229. 

Landucci,  Luca,  diary  ol 

i.ao. ii.  the,  discover) 

Lateran  pala 

Legion,  Garibaldi's 

Legnano,  battle  of,  112, 

i.e. i  (composei 

Leo,  Emperor,  the  [saurian,  41. 

Le  •  i    Pope,  the  Great,  9. 

i  •  i  III,  Pope,  64, 

Leo  [V,  Pope, 

Leo  X,  Pope    Medici), 

(communicates    Luther, 
278;  last  of  papal  overlords 

Tope. 

Leo  Mil.  Pope,  IK    it. 
Leonardo,  m  oai  do  da 

Leopardi,  alessandru  i  sculptoi 

Leopard  I,  Glacoi poel 

Leopold  I,  Grand  Duke  ol   rusoany, 

Llppi,  Pilippino, 

Lombard  cities,  see    Lombardy   and 

Milan. 
Lombardl  (architects  and  sculptors), 

Lombards,  the,  23 ;  character,  27 ;  i 

quests,  .'- .  cl\  i. 
■ 

Incompete ,  '29  .  Influence, 

tempt  to  conquvi  all  ltal\.   ■ 

:    by    1'lppl  '  harle. 

magi  ■ 
Lombard)',     ■  Hildebrand  •< 

■    le,|     .,t 

■i.-aulia,   11" 

■ 

: nl.  Wl. 


438 


INDEX 


Lorenzo  the  Magnificent,  see  under 

Medici. 
Loreto, 

Lorraine,  King  of,  62. 
Lothair,  Emperor,  58,  59, 
Lotto,  Lorenzo,  812. 
Louis  I,  Emperor,  the  Pious, 68,  59. 
Louis  il.  Emperor, 58, 59, 62, 63, 
Louis  XII,  King  of  Prance,  257;  unites 

with  Spain  against  Naples, 263, 
Louis  Napoleon,  see  Napoleon  ill. 
Loyola,  Ignatius,  299. 
Lucca,  li;s;  under  Castniceio  Castra- 

cane,  200  ■.  still  a  republic,296;  visited 

l>y  Montaigne,  332:   on   Napoleon's 

fall,  367. 
Lucca,  BagnJ  di,  333. 
Ludovisi,  see  Gregory  XV,  Pope. 
Luini,  309. 

Luther,  Martin,  276,  278,  297. 
Lutherans,  do  not  attend  Council  of 

Trent,  298. 
Lyons,  Council  of,  142. 

Machiavelli,  admires  Castniceio  Cas- 
tracane,  200;  also  Caesar  Borgia, 273; 
writes,  28J  i  description  of  successful 

Prince,  314,  315  ;  comedies,  354. 
Mafia,  '_".i4,  364,411,  412. 
Magenta,  battle  of,  400, 
Malatesta,  in  Rimini,  198. 
Mameli,  Goffredo,  393,  394. 
Manfred,  lit.  14.: ;  defeat  and  death, 

144;  his  daughter,  162. 
Manin,  Daniele,  ass,  394. 

Mantegna,  288. 

Mantua,  the  Gonzaga  in,  198;  duchy, 
293  ;  opera  in,  357. 

Manzoni,  :;77. 

Marignano,  257. 

Maroncelll,  370-372. 

Marozia,  7.r>,  76. 

Martin  V,  Pope,  220,  268. 

Masaccio,  240,  241. 

Mastai-Ferretti,  Cardinal,  see  Pius  IX, 
Pope. 

Matilda,  Countess,  94 ;  Donation  to  Pa- 
pacy, 94. 

Maximilian,  Emperor,  265. 

Mazzini,  376;  letter  to  Carlo  Alberto. 
379-382;  triumvir  in  Rome,  391-394, 
398 ;  death,  413. 

Medici,  dei,  Alessandro,  263. 

Medici,  dei,  < 'osinio,  Pater  Patriae, 232 ; 
cultivation,  233;  his  tastes,  233;  li- 
braries, 233,  234;  death,  235;  anec- 
dote of,  with  Donatello,  239 :  founds 
Platonic  Academy,  243;  and  Nicho- 
las V,  251. 

Medici,  dei,  Cosimo  I,  Grand  Duke, 
•:t;:;-  marriage,  291 ;  rule,  294,296;  de- 
scendants. -Jiif)  ;  his  architect,  306. 

Medici,  dei,  Francesco  I,  Grand  Duke, 
326,  327. 

Medici,  dei,  Giovanni,  see  Leo  X, 
Pope. 

Medici,  dei,  Giovanni,  Angelo  (not  of 


Florentine  family),  see  Pius  IV, 
Pope. 

Medici,    dei,    Ciuliano,    see    Clement 

Vll.  Pope. 
Medici,  dei.  Lorenzo,  the  Magnificent, 

248  '-'.M',  286. 
Medici,  dei,  Maria,  357. 
Medici,  dei,  Piero,  244,  249. 
Medici,  del,  Salvestro,  229. 
Mentana,  battle  of,  4117. 
Mercenary  soldiers,  211-214. 
Merovingians,  .|  |. 

Metastaslo,  369,  360. 

Metternich,  367. 

Michelangelo,  263 ;  s ets,  285;  goes 

to  Koine,  'jsii :  plans  dome  of  St.  Pe- 
ter's, 290 ;  at  discovery  of  LaocoOn, 
299  ;  statues  in  Florence,  :;os. 

Michelozzo,  233. 

Milan,  107;  classes  In,  107,  108;  war 
witli  Barbarossa,  109: receives  BLenry 
VI 1,  166;  Visconti  In,  198,  199;  ac- 
quires Genoa  temporarily,  199;  un- 
der Gla  n  Galeazzo  Visconti,  226;  be- 
comes a  dukedom,  'J'Jt; ;  cathedral, 
226,227;  loss  of  dominion  on  Gian 

Galeazzo' B  death,  228;  end  of  Vis- 
conti, 250;  founding  of  Sforza  line, 
260;  condition,  1 166  1535,  2 
captured  by  French,  257;  by  span- 
isb,  267;  annexed  to  Spanish  crown, 
■_'.". s  ;  Leonardo  there,  2S6;  Hramante 
there,  'JK7  ;  under  Spanish  governors, 
294;  visited  by  Montaigne,  833 ;  un- 
der Spanish  rule,  339,  340  ;  conveyed 
to  Austria,  341 ;  Five  Days  of,  387  ; 
jealous  of  Turin,  389. 

Mille,  i,403. 

Minghetti,  413. 

Mino,  da  Fiesole,  244. 

Modena,  duchy,  293  ;  seat  of  House  of 
Este,  293;  transfers,  341 ;  reform  in, 
362;  restoration  of  old  order  on  Na- 
poleon's fall,  367;  in  1848,  888,  389, 
397;  united  with  Piedmont  in  King- 
dom of  Italy,  402. 

Mohammed,  40,  41. 

Monasteries,  34,  72. 

Montaigmvdiary  of  his  travels  in  Italy, 
320-334. 

Monte  Casslno,  34. 

Montefeitri,  in  Drbino,  198. 

Montefeltro,  Federigo  da,  249,  250. 

Monteverdi,  357. 

Montfort,  123. 

Murat,  365,  366. 

Naples,  21,  70,  73;  House  of  Aragon 
reigning,  161 ;  condition,  about  1360, 
201;  loss  in  Black  Death,  210;  con- 
dition, 1360-  1460,  222;  conquered  by 
Alfonso  of  Aragon,  223;  no  share  in 
Renaissance,  249;  passes  to  illegiti- 
mate branch  of  House  of  Aragon, 
263;  conquered  by  Spaniards,  263; 
annexed  to  Spanish  crown,  264  ;  un- 
der Spanish  viceroys,  294 ;  iuquisi- 


INDEX 


439 


Hon  in.  299;   conveyed  to  Austria 
and  then  to  Spanish  Bourbons,    a, 
condition,  prior  to  178 
to  Joseph    Bonaparte  and  Murat, 

revolution  ol  18 
cruelty  "f  Fran.-;-  I.  878:  In  1848, 
-  part  in  war  against  Aus- 
tria, iution  of  liberals, 
ition  described  by  Glad- 
stone, 395, 396;  united  with  Kingdom 
Of  Italy,  404,  406. 

Napoleon  i 

Napoleon  1 1 1  ipoleon),  Inter- 

•    in   Rome,   391  ;   plan-  i 
ment  with  Cavour,  nx<:   war 
with  Austria,  400;  peaoe,  400,  401. 
'■ 

Niccolli 

Nicholas  1.  Pope,  • 
Nichol  1, 288. 

t,  150. 
Normans,  In   Bouthern  Italy.  92;    In 

Sicily,  93;  bat te  liegemen  to  the 

Popes 

Novaia.  battle  of,  390. 

'  in.  Bee  innocent  \  1.  Pope. 
Odoacer,  :.  10,  11,  13. 
Opera,  the, . 
Oratorio,  tbi 
Order       -  aclscan 

order. 
Order  •  ■•  1,  <  (rder  of. 

Orlando  Fill 
Orlando  [nnamoral 
Orsinl,  the,  71 
•    i   ' 
Otto  1,  Emperor,  the  Great,  77  :  mar. 
rowned  Emperor,  ts  ■  his 

empii  and  deposes 

Pope  John  \  1 1 
Otto  IN'.  1  mperor,  120;  becomes  <;iii- 

belllne,  i-'".  121  :  excommunicated 

by  Innocent  ill,  i-'i  ;  dep 

122. 

Padua,  96   conquered  bj  Ven 

:     ' 
Palslell 

1    Vecchlo,    1"-.    fountain    in. 

G 
10,  1  ising  h 
. 
Pallad 

Palma  Vecchlo, 

Palmerston,  Lord,  sends  Gladstone's 
letter    t..    European    governments, 

Panflli,  nt  X,  Pope. 

itlons  with    I 

with   I. on 

IiMtiat !  Pippin,  Ifi    further  rela 

<  li.-w  :■ 


Charlemagne,  61 ;  towards  Roman 
Empire,   62;    local    weakness 

:  ted  by  Empire,  68  .  duel  with 
Empire,  59;  right  to  crown  Emper- 
anomalous  nature  of, 
injection  to  Empire,  61 1  strug- 
gle with  Empire,  61,  62;  added  pres- 
tige,   t..:  ;    cosmopolitan   ambition, 
64;  degradation,  67,  68;  revival  of, 
79;  character  of,  In  10th  centurj .  Bl . 
becomes  suzerain  to  Southern  Italy, 
il  niggle  w  Ith  Empire  over  In- 
vestitures, 89  ioi;  us  triumph,  114- 
124  :  its  death  grapple  with  Empire, 

•  i  ;  it-  decay  and  fall.  it:.  161  ; 
Babylonish  Captivity,  151  ;  an  ab- 
sentee, 161;  return  to  Rome,  -i: ; 

and    Renaissance,  261  ;    as    head  of 
culture,  262;  its  monarchy,  .• 
In  High  Renaissance,  .■ 
\ival.  .   purely    Italian    in- 

stitution, 302 ;  quarrel  with  \ 

n  ;  in  tTtli  and  isth  centuries, 

•  .  under  Napoh 366 ;  loss  of 

Temporal  Power,  107,  W8;  attitude 
towards  Italian  government,  410, 
411  .  under  I XIII.  418. 

Papal  Cm  la,  see  Roman  Curia. 

Papal    States,   69;    really  founded  by 

innocent  III,  120 ;  confusion  in,  dur- 
ing Babylonish  Captivity,  162;  about 

102;   reduced   to  ordi 
firmly  established,  267,  268 ;  tin-  Pa- 
pal monarch] .  267  280  .  prloi  I 

1  Napol i*s  time,  St  • .  after 

Napoleon's  fall,  867  i  In  1848 
in  1849  Invaded  bj 

11 tese  army,  mm  ;  votes  to  Join 

Mill  of    Hal- 

Parentucelli,  see  Nicholas  \ .  Pope. 

I'aris,  Congress  ,.1 

Puma,   a  duchy,  296  ,  taken   I 

tiesi,  296 .  conveyed  t.>  Bpanlsh  Bour- 
bons, 341.  342;  prior  1..  !  . 
on  Napoleon's  overthrow,  .:r.7;  In- 
surrectlon  In,  379 ;  In  I 

■  11 ;  unite, 1   with   Piedmont   In 
dom  ol  italj 
Parthenon,  blown  up 
Patarlnl 
Paul  1 1,  I'op' 
Paul  ill.  Pope    Uessandro  Parnese), 

1 ,  :iihi. 
Paul  i\  .  Pope    C  trail  1 
Paul  v,  Pope 

.  Ghlbelllni 
Pavla,  liatth  1 

•  Westpha 
Pee,-,,  tee  l  ...  \  11 1.  1  ■ 
I 
pelllco 

III!    ;.    \       P 

128;   Iti 

Bagllonl  in 

I'erugln 
I'ituzzI,  Bald  ■ 


440 


INDEX 


Pesaro,  246. 

Pesaro,  Marchess  di,  and  Pletro  Axe- 
t ii>«>.  SIS,  .'iU'>. 

Petrarch,  185;  leader  of  Classical  Re- 
vlval,  208,  204;  coronation  of,  204; 
sreal  reputation,  206  ;  enthusiasm 
for  Cols  <li  Rienzo,  206,207;  on  the 
Black  l  teatb,  210 1  <>n  mercenary  boI- 
dlers,  213,  214:  goes  t<>  Milan,  216; 
Invecl  Ives  against  Roman  Curia,  274. 

Philip,  Imperial  claimant,  120. 

Philip,  the  Fair,  King  of  Prance,  quar- 
rel with  Boniface  x,  ill,  148-160. 

Placenza,  06;  heretics  In,  126;  build- 
ings in,  305;  visited  by  Montaigne, 
S83. 

Piazza  Navona,  351. 

Plccinni,  368. 

Piccolomini,  .Fneas  Sylvius,  see  Pius 
H.  Pope. 

Pico,  dells  Mlrandola,  245. 

Piedmont,  becomea  Important  part 
of  duchy  of  Savoy,  296;  visited  by 
Montaigne,  834  ;  becomes  chief  part 

of  duchy  of  Savoy,  343;    prior  to 

1789,  361  ;  takes  action  against 
Prance,  3C5;  on  restoration  of  kin*.', 
307;  uprising iu, 376,  370  :  In  1848,  386; 
war  with  Austria,  388;  defeated, 
389;  alsoal  Novara,  390;  left  alone 
to  maintain  Italian  cause.  304;  the 
hope  of  Italy,  397;  in  Crimean  Mar, 
399  ;  war  with  Austria,  400. 

Pier  della  Vigna,  141.  143. 

Pletro  Aretino,  316, 316. 

Pilo,  Rosalino,  402. 

Plnturlccbio,  288. 

Pippin,  King,  deposes  Merovingians, 
44;  crowned  by  Pope  Zacharias,  46 ; 
and  the  Papacy.  49;  death,  50. 

Pippin.  Donation  of,  45,  50. 

Pisa,  70 ;  prosperity  of,  104 ;  Ghibelline, 
133;  loyal  to  Henry  VII,  169;  regula- 
tions concerning  nobles,  168;  war 
with  Genoa,  169 ;  crushing  defeal  by 
Genoa.  170  ;  baptistery,  186  ;  loss  iu 
Black  Death,  210;  seized  by  Milan, 
227;  by  Florence,  228 ;  CaiupoSantn. 
244. 

Pisa,  Council  of,  219. 

Pisani,  Vettor (Venetian  admiral), 224. 

Pisano,  Giovanni,  1st. 

Pisa  mi,  Nlccolb,  lsc;  at  Siena,  187. 

Pitti  l'alace, designed  by  Brunelleschi, 
236;  occupied  by  Cosimo  I,  294  ;  pic- 
ture gallery  in.  295;  opera  in,  357. 

Pius  II,  Pope,  .Eneas  Sylvius  Picco- 
lomini   288. 

Pius  IV,  Pope  (Giovanni  Angelo  Me- 
dici),  founder  of  Modern  Papacy, 
301,  302. 

Pius  IX  ,  Pope,  383,  3S4  ;  takes  part  In 
war  against  Austria,  388;  his  scru- 
pies, 889;  army  captured,  389;  flees 
friim  Borne,  390;  reactionary,  396; 
bad  government  of,  397 ;  and  Tem- 
poral Power,  405 ;  extreme  conserv- 


Stlsm,  109,  410  ;  prisoner  in  Vatican, 

410 .  refuses  Biibsidy.  411. 
Plague  Of  1348  I  Black  Death),  209-211. 
Plato,  242,  243,  248. 
Platonic  Academy,  248. 

Platonic  Ideas,  282,  288,  285. 

Plutarch,  266. 

Podesta,  166. 

Poerio,  Carlo,  396,  386, 

Poetry,  in  Sicily,  141;  in  Bologna  and 

Tuscan),  1st. 
Poggio  a  Caiano,  244,  809, 
Polenta,  da,  the,  in  Ravenna,  198. 
Polizlano,  246. 
PollaluolO,  Antonio,  244. 
Pontormo,  308,  809. 
Poutremoli,  833. 
Popes,  see  Papacy,  Papal  States,  and 

individual  Popes. 
Pordenone,  Giov.  Ant.  da,  312. 
Portiuncula,  129  181,  806, 
Pratollno,  326. 
Prigioni,  I.e  Mie  (of  Silvio  Pellico), 

'.  382. 
Prince,  The,  by  Madiiavelli,  314,315. 
Promessi,  Sposi,  I,  by  Manzonl,  .177. 
Provence,  Alblgenslan  crusade,  123. 
Prussia, war  with  Austria,  407 ;  with 

Prance,  407. 

Pu lei,  245. 

Quadrilateral,  the,  388. 

Radetzky,  Field   Marshal,  387-390,  394. 
Raphael,  283,  286,  289;  character,  290, 

291;  portrait  of  Julius  II,  289;  of 

I.eo  X,  292. 
Rattaz/.i,  406. 
Ravenna,    14,   21,   45,   71 ;  Byzantine 

architecture   in,  187;  Malatests  in. 

198;  Lord  Pyron  in,  372-375. 
Reformation,   the,  premonitions    of, 

219-222;  Coming  of,  297. 
Reformation  within  the  Church,  see 

Catholic  Revival. 
Renaissance.  231  261,  281-292. 
Renaissance,  Early,  231-211. 
Renaissance,  High,  281-292 ;  its  close, 

304. 

Revolution,  French  (of  1789),  361,  364. 

Revolution,  French  (of  1830),  379. 

Ribera,  362. 

Ricasoli.  Bettino,  401,  406. 

Rlccardi  palace,  233,  244. 

Rienzl,  see  Coladi  Rienzo. 

Robbia,  della.  Andrea,  244. 

Robbia,  della,  Luca,  241. 

Romagna,  the,  379. 

Roman  Curia  (papal  Curia),  denounced 
by  Frederick  II,  138,139;  its  venal- 
ity, 219;  policy,  221;  difficulties  and 
cleverness,  269  270;  object  of  satire 
and  Invective,  274,276;  and  art,  288. 

Rinnan  Empire  (see  also  Holy  Roman 
Empire,  and  Eastern  Empire),  its 
extent,  1;  character,  2;  luxurious 
life,  4;  unity,  7  ;  its  condition  while 


INDEX 


441 


at  Constantinople,  86;  in  popular 
Imagination,  51,  52;  relatioi  • 
Papacy,  59;  its  revival  by  Pope  Leo 
ana  Charlemagne,  56 ;  end  ol  Carlo- 
vinidan  revival, 58;  revival  by  »>tto 
the  Great  as  the  Holy  Roman  Em- 
pire, :;.  78. 

Roman  gentleman,  lift-  of,  4. 

Roman  people,  antagonism  to  Papacy, 
60  ;  local  politics  of,67 .  sava; 

Rome, Its  splendour,!;  rail, 5;  Chris- 
tian. 9;  TheodoriCa  visit.  U;  relation 
to  the  Empire,  53:  parties  in.  183. 
1S4;  ii"  despotism  in,  194;  reduced 
to  papal  obedience,  268  ;  sa.-u  by 
Bourbon's  army,  279,280;  in  lli^ii 
Renaissance,  288;  visited  by  Mon- 
taigni     -  •  ompared  \\  itb  Ven- 

is  to  freedom,  328,  :;■-".';  riots  In, 
Republic  declared, 390;  defends 
Itself  against  French,  391  .  04 .  Ro- 
man question,  405 ;  occupied  by  Ital 
Ian  troops,  4n: ;  becomes  Beat  of 
national  government,  468, 

Romulus  Augustulus,  l. 

Roncaglia,  diet  of,  110,  ni. 

ment  1  X,  Pope. 

: 

!  no,  Antonio.  J44. 

!  tl,  377. 

.  Pelegrino,  murdered,  390. 
I 
Rovere,  della,  Francesco,  see  Sixtus 

iv.  Pope. 
i  della,  Giuliano,  see  dulius  II, 

, della,  family,  dukes  of  Urblno, 

.         o,  visited  by  Montaigne,  828, 

ljnli-  of  St  Francis 
ltuskin  on  Bronxin 

ai 

St.  Clan 

St.  Columbanus,  ■-■ 

■f,  188. 
st.  Prai 
St.  Fran 
St.  Pra 

Bt   . I" tin    I.at'-ian,    cbUTCb    of,    in    In 

uoeent's   dream,    126 .    Henrj    \  1 1 

■ 

I 

losed  m 
held  by 

dome  con 

ii.i.u.  on  lay  investiture, 


St.  Sophia,  church  of ,  38. 
St  Theresa,    l 

St.  Thomas  Aquinas.  178,  178. 

st.  /.ciio.  ohurcb  of,  in  Verona,  iw. 

Salerno,  TO,  82,  1"4. 

San  Gallo,  tia,  Antonio,  the  younger, 

San  Gallo,  da.  Francesco,  account  oi 

ivery  ol  Laocoon,  28L 
San  Gallo,  da,  Giuliano,  944,  U 

281 
Sansovino,  Jaeopo  Tattl,  806,  Bit 
Baraceus,  40;  conquests  of,  41 ;  In  Bt 

oily,  78;  in  Italy, 
Sardinia,   conveyed    to    Mini,   841j 

dukes   of   sa\o_\   become  kiu^s  of 
.1.  Klngdo  I     dmont 

Sarpl,  Paolo,  1 
Sassoferrato, 

Savonarola,  248,  25£ 

Savoy,  it'.'  (see  also  piedmont);   its 

situation  and  princes,  173;  becomes 

duchy,  229;  during  wars  between 
Francis  I  and  Charles  V.  286;  I"-. 
COmes  an   Italian  State,  286  ;  m  17th 

and  18th  centuries 

Sa\ oy,  House  of,  i;.-.. 

Bcala  della,  House  of  (the  Scallgers), 
184  188  :  burial  place  ol 

seala   della.  Can   Grande,   186,   l%; 
aided  bj  Henrj  \  1 1 

Bcala,  della,  Mastino,  186,  187  ;  ins  de- 
feat, 187,  I 

Scale  della,  House  of. 

Scarlatti.  A.lessandr< 

Scarlatti,  Domenico 

Schism,  tic  Great  218  220. 
tlano  dd  Plombo,  312. 

Begnatura,  Stanza  della, 

--•■Hi.  Qu  Ql 

sfor/a,  House   of,  i omea  extinoti 

Bforza,   AJessandro,  lord  of  Peaaro, 
Bforza,  Attendolo  (Muzio  Attendolo), 

Bforza.  Frani  ecomea  i>uke 

ol  Milan,  250;  dealings  with  human- 
ists, 250 .  death, 

sfor/a,  Galeazzo  Man... 

Bforza,    Lodov ii    Moro,   . 

Sicilian  Vespers,  I 

practi- 
cal I  j  •  Noi  man  conquest 
under   Heurj    VI,    ti  i .    under 
I  Ick  II.  141,142;  undei  Charles 
of  Anjou,  Ii  an  \  espors, 
inder  House  ol    dragon,  16  , 

al I 

gon,  .'.'    .  no  sIih  i  nance. 

•  tn.it.-    branoli    of 
ii  under  Span- 

ish   «  •  -I    i" 

Ii  Hour- 

I -, 

> 


4-42 


INDEX 


revolution  put  down,  881;  expedi- 
tion of  Garibaldi  and  Mllle,  tos. 

sit-iia,  conquered  by  Florence)  294; 
visited  bj  Montaigne,  327. 

Blgismund,  Emperor,  220. 

Signorelli,  288. 

Silvester,  Pope,  legend  of,  tr>-47. 

Slutony,  movement  against,  86. 

Bistine  Chapel,  288;  Michelangelo's 
Frescoes,  290. 

Blxtus  IV,  Pope,  270,  271,286. 

Slxtus  \ .  Pope,  844. 

Bodoma,  309. 

Solferlno,  400. 

Spain.  37;  invasions  by,  268,  264;  ac- 
quires Milan,  267;  Naples,  268,  264 ; 
predominant  in  Italy,  276;  secure 
Bold,  293;  governmenl  In  Milan, 
294 :  in  Naples  and  Sicily,  294. 

Spanish  Steps,  the,  in  Koine,  351,  300. 

Spielberg  prison,  371. 

Spoleto,  a  Lombard  duchy,  28, 69;  vis- 
ited by  Montaigne,  331. 

Stradivarlus,  359. 

Strozzl  palaee.  in  Florence,  2  ti.  246. 

Summa  Theologian,  of  Thomas  Aqui- 
nas, 178. 

lasso,  Torquato,  on  the  Book  of  the 
Courtier.  284  ;  life,  309,  310  ;  seen  by 
Montaigne,  324. 

Theodora,  75,7(5. 

Tbeodoric,  the  Ostrogoth,  12;  victory 
over  Odoacer,  13;  difficulties,  13; 
policy,  14 ;  visit  to  Rome,  14 ;  deal- 
ings with  Empire,  16;  with  Church, 
17;  breach  with  Church,  20;  death. 
20. 

Thomas  Aquinas,  see  St.  Thomas 
Aquinas. 

Tiepolo,  352. 

Tintoretto,  312. 

Titian,  312. 

Totila.  21,  22. 

Trade,  spirit  of,  103 ;  with  North  and 
East,  166,  167  ;  impediments  to, 
167,  168. 

Trent,  Council  of,  300-302. 

Trevi,  fountain  of,  351,  360. 

Turin,  334,  375. 

Turks,  capture  Constantinople,  264 ; 
conquer  parts  of  Venetian  Empire, 
297;  wars  with  Venice,  338, 339. 

Tuscany,  69;  a  marquisate,  '.'4;  a 
Grand  Duchy,  303  ;  visited  by  Mon- 
taigne, 326-327 ;  passes  to  Austrian 
dukes  on  failure  of  Medicean  line, 
342;  prior  to  17.19,  363;  restoration 
in,  after  Napoleon's  fall,  367;  takes 
part  in  war  against  Austria,  388  ; 
defeated,  389;  (J rand  Duke  runs 
away.  390  ;  returns,  391 ;  subservient 
t'>  Austria,  397;  runs  away  again, 
401  ;  united  with  Piedmont  in  King- 
dom of  Italy,  401,  402. 

Two  Sicilies,  Kingdom  of  (see  also 
Sicily  and  Naples),  93;  under  Man- 


fred, 143;  conquered  by  Charles  of 
Anjou,    144;    absolute    monarchy. 

198,    194  ;     united    under   AlfonSO    01 
AragOn,22S  ;  fall  apart  on  his  death, 
268  ;  paSS   to    Charles    \  ,    264  :   1  I'.'l 
1616,268,  264;  unites  with  Kingdom 
Of  Italy,  406. 

Uftl/.i  palaee,  in  Florence,  294  ;  picture 

gallery,  296. 

UgOllUO.  see  Gregory  IX,  Pope. 

Universities,  itt  ;  of  Bologna,  itt,  its. 
Urban  VI.  Pope,  218. 
Urban  VIII,  Pope.  346. 
Urblno,  249;  library   at,  261;   society 
In,  282,  283;  absorbed  by  Papacy, 

296;  visited  by  Montaigne,  332. 
Utrecht,  treaty  of,  341. 
Uzzano,  Niccolo  da,  230. 

Vandals,  6,  21. 

Vasarl,  on  Brunellcschi,  235,  236;  on 
Donatello,  238,  239;  on  Masaccio, 
240;  on  Leonardo,  2X5.  2X6;  on  Raph- 
ael, 290,  291 ;  himself,  806. 

Vatican  council,  410. 

Vatican  library,  262. 

Vatican  palace,  262,287,288,290. 

Venice,  70;  origin,  106;  character,  106, 
106;  trade,  106, 107;  Barbarossa  and 

Alexander  ill  at,  112;  Fourth  Cru- 
sade, us,  mi  |  isolation,  17o  ;  govern- 
ment, 171 ;  patricians,  171  ;  wars  with 

Genoa,  172;  Greal  Council,  172;  olt 
garchy,  172;  aboni  1360,202;  growth, 
223;  wars  with  Genoa,  224;  four 
stages,  224;  oligarchy  in  control, 
226;  tranquillity,  226;  1453-1508,264- 
266;  League  of  Cambrai,  266,  266; 
wars  with  Turks,  2:17 ;  Lepanto,  297 ; 
the  Carita,  307;  fine  arts.  310-313; 
visited  by  Montaigne,  322, 323 :  free- 
dom compared  with  that  in  Rome, 
328,  329;  1580-1789,  335-339;  quarrel 
with  Papacy,  336,  337;  wars  with 
Turks,  338, 339 ;  conquers  the  Morea, 
338;  opera  in,  357;  music  in,  359; 
prior  to  1789,362;  extinction  of  Re- 
public, 365;  given  to  Austria,  367; 
In  1848,  a  Republic  again,  387,  388 ; 
jealous  of  Piedmont,  389;  surrenders 
to  Austria,  394 ;  united  to  Italy,  407. 

Verona,  emotional  peace  of,  17c.  177; 
description  of,  194;  under  Sealigers, 
195-198;  seized  by  Venice,  224;  tem- 
porarily under  Milan,  227;  taken  by 
Venice,  228;  claimed  by  empire,  265; 
visited  by  Montaigne,  320. 

Veronese,  Paolo,  312. 

Verrocchio,  244,  247;  Leonardo's  mas- 
ter, 286. 

Vieenza,  conquered  by  Can  Grande, 
195, 196;  buildings  In, 306, 307  ;  \  isited 
by  Goethe,  ;io7;  bv  Montaigne,  321. 

Vico,  349,  360. 

Victor  Kmmanuel,  see  Vittorio  Eman- 
uele  IL 


INDEX 


44:i 


Vienna,  Congress  of,  3C.e>,  367. 

Vienna,  Peace  of,  ML 

Vignola,  Glacomo  Barozzl  da,  305,  306. 

Villa  1'.. 

Villa  di  Papa  Gluli< 

Villa  Medici, 

Villani.  Giovanni,  on  Boniface  \  111. 

146  :  mi  Dante,  152, 153  ;  on  Florence, 

182. 183;  death,  ju. 
Vinci,  Leonardo  da,  256,  280  281 
\   -       ;:,  Souse  "f.  despots  Oi  Milan, 

198,  199 .  aided  by  Henrj  VII,  198; 

tiioir  ambitions,  199;  about  i 

tlieir  despotism,  215,  216;   end    <>f, 

260. 
\  -  Bernabo,  215, 

\  -    mti,  Bianca  Maria, 

•;,  Pilippo   Maria,  228;    death, 

v  -  ionti,  Galeazzo  II,  216, 

•;.  Gian  Galeazzo,  216 .  career, 
.  buildings,  226 ;  death.  227. 
Visconti,  Giovanni  (Archbishop),  216. 


Visigoths,  r>. 

Bmanuele  i. 
Vittorio  Bmanuele  [1,390;  character, 
:>:•':,  398 .  French  alliauce  aud   Aua 
trian  War,  400.  401  .  hailed  King  ol 
ltah    i.y    Garibaldi,    MM;   alliance 
with  Prussia,  407  ;  war  with  Austria, 
Dters  \  enlce,  407  .  takes  pos 
i  ol  Rome,  407,408  .  death,  413 
Vittorio  Emanuele  ill,  416. 
Volta, 

- 
Bpani8b  Success 
Werner,  <iuk<\  213. 

Worms,  .li.-i  of,  278, 
Wycllf,  s:<k 

X*0DHg  ltah 

Zai'harias,  Pope,  11. 

Zara,  captured  bj  Crusaders,  118 
Zeno,  Carlo,  224. 


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